Evidence suggests that eating breakfast regularly may improve academic performance and school attendance among children. Serving breakfast in the classroom is associated with improved diet quality. Despite these benefits, less than half of Connecticut students who qualify for free or reduced-price school meals, and who participate in school lunch, also take part in the school breakfast program. We conducted this study to identify the drivers of, and barriers to, school breakfast participation among students in two school districts in the Lower Naugatuck Valley of CT that are part of the Valley Initiative to Advance Health and Learning in Schools (VITAHLS).
Further Study Details:
The PRC conducted 13 focus groups with elementary, middle, and high school students. Each focus group included 5 to 11 students with parental consent. We asked questions regarding breakfast consumption in general, and in the home and school settings. We also elicited suggestions to improve breakfast served at school. We used a software program to identify emerging themes from the transcripts and group them into categories based on how they related to our research questions.
Findings:
Below is a brief summary of our findings relative to our research questions.Why do students choose to eat breakfast? The major factors in deciding whether to eat it on school days were parental influence, hunger or desire to avoid physical symptoms, and inadequate time. Many elementary school students said their parents stressed the importance of breakfast, and took steps to ensure that they ate it each morning. Children in grades K-6 tended to report feeling hungry in the morning, while those in grades 7-12 more often mentioned a lack of hunger. Some students said they found it hard to pay attention if they skipped breakfast. However, many students skipped breakfast due to a lack of hunger or desire to eat early in the morning. For some, the importance of eating breakfast varied based on their plans for the day. Many middle and high school students who skipped breakfast said they felt rushed in the morning and had too little time to eat it during the school week. Some said they only ate breakfast on the weekends when they had more time.Why do students eat breakfast at home? Most felt it was a more appealing option than eating it at school. The top reason was distaste for school food. Many said that school foods are unhealthy or “junk” or “fake.” School breakfast was commonly perceived as a waste of money because better, less expensive food was available at home. Lack of time was also a perceived barrier. Students reported feeling too rushed at school and having other priorities – including socializing with friends.Why do students eat breakfast at school? While some mentioned eating breakfast at school when preferred foods – such as breakfast sandwiches or “brownie bars” – were served, most students said they ate breakfast at school if hungry and lacking other options due to time constraints at home.How could school breakfasts be improved? Students expressed a desire for:more food choices, particularly a larger variety of fruits;more opportunities to customize their meals;fresh made-to-order “real” foods, rather than “fake” processed foods; andmore healthful options.
Eligibility:
Elementary, middle, and high school students in a school district in which 22% of students qualified for free or reduced-priced meals. Middle school schools in another district that offered universal free breakfast because 69% of students qualified for these meals.
Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center