Dietary patterns of university students in the UK: a cross-sectional study

Sprake, E. F.; Russell, J. M.; Cecil, J. E.; Cooper, R. J.; Grabowski, P.; Pourshahidi, L. K.; Barker, M. E.

doi:10.1186/s12937-018-0398-y

Nutrition Journal

Table 5 General Linear Model 2 – Demographic + Eating related variables

From: Dietary patterns of university students in the UK: a cross-sectional study

	Vegetarian		Snacking		Health-conscious		Convenience, red meat & alcohol
Lack of fit	p = 0.001		p = 0.748		p = 0.426		p = 0.017
Demographic variable (n)	Adjusted mean pattern score	p value	Adjusted mean pattern score	p value	Adjusted mean pattern score	p value	Adjusted mean pattern score	p value
Gender
Male	1.119	< 0.001	Not entered into model		Not entered into model	N/A	0.645	< 0.001
Female	1.304	< 0.001	Not entered into model		Not entered into model	N/A	0.129
Age
17–21	1.140 ^a	0.020	Not entered into model	N/A	−0.047	0.049	Not entered into model	N/A
22–25	1.301 ^a				0.113 ^a
26–29	1.314				0.161 ^b
Leisure-time physical activity
Not very active	1.258	0.183	0.270 ^ab	0.012	−0.187 ^ab	< 0.001	0.436	0.117
Moderately active	1.297		0.208 ^ac		0.064 ^ac		0.327
Very active	1.199		0.034 ^bc		0.350 ^bc		0.399
BMI
< 18.5	Not entered into model	N/A	Not entered into model	N/A	0.110	0.215	Not entered into model	N/A
18.5–24.9					0.057
25–29.9					0.173
≥ 30					−0.037
Smoking status
Never	1.190	0.292	Not entered into model	N/A	Not entered into model	N/A	0.224 ^ab	< 0.001
Ex	1.321						0.272 ^c
Social	1.264						0.520 ^ac
Regular	1.230						0.532 ^b
Ethnicity
White British	Not entered into model	N/A	Not entered into model	N/A	−0.107 ^ab	0.016	Not entered into model	N/A
White Irish					−0.080 ^c
White Other					0.123 ^ac
Mixed					0.243
Asian/Asian British					0.033
Black/Black British					− 0.081
Other					0.370 ^b
Rather not say					0.106
Year of study
1st year UG	Not entered into model	N/A	Not entered into model	N/A	0.048 ^a	0.004	Not entered into model	N/A
2nd year UG					0.069
3rd year UG					0.200 ^a
≥ 4th year UG					−0.008
Postgraduate					− 0.158
Other					0.304
Term-time accommodation
Uni catered	Not entered into model	N/A	0.427 ^ab	0.033	Not entered into model	N/A	0.595	0.026
Uni self-catered			0.159 ^ac				0.495
Private with friends			0.149 ^bd				0.469
Private on own			0.218				0.030 ^a
Parents/relatives			0.390 ^cde				0.431 ^a
Partner			0.248 ^e				0.378
Parents/partner + children			0.378				0.293
Children only			− 0.178				0.430
Other			−0.256				0.364
University
Sheffield	1.218 ^abc	< 0.001	0.136 ^a	0.029	−0.270 ^abcd	< 0.001	Not entered into model	N/A
Ulster	0.894 ^adef		0.242 ^abc		0.069 ^aef
KCL	1.424 ^bd		0.036 ^b		0.196 ^be
Southampton	1.298 ^eg		0.337		0.187 ^cf
St Andrews	1.424 ^cfg		0.103 ^c		0.197 ^d
Full-time vs. part-time student status
Full-time	Not entered into model	N/A	0.442	< 0.001	Not entered into model	N/A	Not entered into model	N/A
Part-time	Not entered into model	N/A	−0.101	< 0.001	Not entered into model	N/A		N/A
Cooking/eating-related variables
Cooking ability
Wide range	1.350 ^ab	0.036	0.024	0.190	0.257 ^ab	0.002	0.261	0.297
Limited range	1.239 ^ac		0.015		0.065 ^ac		0.301
Pre-prepared only	1.125 ^bc		0.151		−0.101 ^bc		0.527
Unable to cook at all	1.292		0.492		0.082		0.459
Animal food consumption
Regular meat-eater	−0.171 ^abcd	< 0.001	0.187	0.080	0.445 ^a	< 0.001	0.500 ^ab	< 0.001
Flexitarian	0.291 ^aefg		0.199		0.488 ^b		0.185 ^ac
Lacto-ovo	1.635 ^beh		0.314		0.101		0.534 ^c
Ovo	1.707 ^chi		0.319		−0.459 ^ab		0.201 ^b
Vegan	2.795 ^dghi		−0.238		−0.196		0.517
Meals made from scratch
Every day	1.322	0.136	−0.060 ^abc	0.001	0.339 ^abc	< 0.001	0.622	< 0.001
Most days	1.272		0.146 ^ade		0.198 ^ade		0.495
Occasionally	1.172		0.246 ^bd		−0.034 ^bd		0.345
Rarely/never	1.240		0.350 ^ce		−0.200 ^ce		0.088
Meals made from pre-prepared foods
Every day	1.302 ^a	0.047	0.338 ^a	< 0.001	0.178 ^ab	0.002	0.591 ^abc	0.040
Most days	1.151 ^bc		0.304 ^bc		0.046 ^acd		0.336 ^a
Occasionally	1.231 ^bd		0.143 ^bd		−0.069 ^bce		0.265 ^b
Rarely/never	1.321 ^acd		−0.102 ^acd		0.148 ^de		0.356 ^c
Ready-meals/take-aways
Every day	1.511	0.257	0.584 ^ab	< 0.001	0.273	0.042	0.552 ^a	< 0.001
Most days	1.222		0.290 ^cd		0.025 ^a		0.570 ^bc
Occasionally	1.130		−0.036 ^bd		−0.068 ^b		0.302 ^cd
Rarely/never	1.143		−0.155 ^acd		0.073 ^ab		0.125 ^abd
Meals in university cafeteria
Every day	1.156	0.062	0.153	0.547	0.141	0.922	0.375	0.336
Most days	1.253		0.245		0.047		0.485
Occasionally	1.311		0.170		0.069		0.372
Rarely/never	1.286		0.115		0.046		0.317
Skipped breakfast
Every day	1.358	0.062	0.221	0.101	−0.179 ^ab	< 0.001	0.514 ^ab	< 0.001
Most days	1.276		0.257		0.066 ^c		0.609 ^cd
Occasionally	1.193		0.114		0.126 ^ad		0.307 ^ace
Rarely/never	1.179		0.091		0.290 ^bcd		0.119 ^bde
Skipped lunch/dinner
Every day	1.245	0.991	0.089	0.131	0.284	0.404	0.001	0.012
Most days	1.252		0.236		0.066		0.443
Occasionally	1.261		0.116		−0.031		0.503
Rarely/never	1.248		0.241		−0.016		0.602
Amount spent on food
< £20	1.278	0.268	0.101	0.534	−0.171 ^abcd	< 0.001	0.162 ^abcd	< 0.001
£20–29	1.269		0.146		−0.005 ^aef		0.344 ^aef
£30–39	1.251		0.150		0.138 ^beg		0.385 ^b
£40–49	1.333		0.264		0.096 ^eh		0.481 ^ce
≥ £50	1.127		0.192		0.320 ^dfgh		0.564 ^df

Independent associations between dietary pattern scores and non-nutrient variables. p values < 0.05 are highlighted in bold. Common superscript letters indicate significant post-hoc differences between categories within each variable

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