The relationship between community food environment around schools and student meal participation: the role of school CEP participation status.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Despite the many benefits of school meals, not all students participate. One reason students may not participate in school meals is because they instead purchase breakfast or lunch from food outlets located around schools that mostly carry unhealthy items. This study examined whether school participation in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which allows qualifying schools to serve free meals to all students, moderated the association between the community food environment around schools and student meal participation.

Methods

This study employed a longitudinal repeated-measures design using school-level data collected between 2014 and 2020 within four low-income school districts (n = 126 schools) in the US. We obtained meal participation data from state r

SUBMITTER: Melnick EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11232155 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature