The correlation between income and healthy eating in Sophie Davis students 

Abstract   

The main objective of this research study was to investigate and determine if a correlation between the income of Sophie Davis students and their healthy eating habits existed. The experiment was conducted by constructing and distributing a survey aimed at gathering the incomes and the eating habits of the Sophie Davis Year 1 undergraduate class. After the results of the survey were reported, it was discovered that a higher proportion of Sophie Davis students with high weekly incomes ($100-$300) ate processed food as compared to Sophie Davis students with low weekly incomes ($25-$100). Also, it was found that a fewer proportion of Sophie Davis Year 1 students with high incomes ate the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables compared to those with low incomes. From these findings, it was concluded that Sophie Davis Year 1 students who have low incomes are also more likely to eat healthier, as low income and healthier eating habits were found to be correlated.

Introduction 

One problem all college kids have is eating healthy. However, there are many factors as to why they may be eating unhealthy, such as lack of options, easy access to unhealthy foods, and financial inability. Though all of these factors differ they all lead to the same result, an inability to constantly eat nutritious foods, which often leads to medical problems in the future, such as obesity, and heart difficulties (Giovani et al, 2018). This study focuses on the effect of income on the eating habits of college students, specifically Sophie Davis Students. Previous studies have found that college students with lower incomes are more likely to take part in unhealthy eating habits, regardless of their knowledge of nutritional requirements (Abraham et. al 2018). With this in mind, we were able to hypothesize that the Sophie Davis students with lower incomes will report having unhealthy eating habits. The purpose of this study is to comprehend the correlation between income and eating habits for Sophie Davis students. This is significant because once we can identify the causes for unhealthy eating habits, the eating habits themselves can be improved. The results that are gathered from this experiment can be vital in promoting the health and well-being of the Sophie Davis community. 

Materials and Methods

First, a ten-question survey was created. In this survey, since the study was aimed at discovering if there was a correlation between the income and healthy eating habits of Sophie Davis students, examples of questions included but were not limited to: how often students eat processed food, how much money students earn on a weekly basis, and how the students themselves would rate their eating habits. From there, the survey was specifically distributed to the Sophie Davis Year 1 Undergraduate class on GroupMe. The survey collected the responses of the students over the course of a week, with it closing after the allocated time period. Participants of this study consisted of 29 Sophie Davis undergraduate students, which was the target population selected for this experiment. After the data was received, the results were then interpreted and placed into graphs in order to determine if the assumed correlation between student income and healthy eating habits existed. For the purposes of this study, high income was defined as those earning $100-$300, with low income represented as $25-$100. 

Results

After gathering and analyzing the data, it was found that Sophie Davis Year 1 students with low incomes generally ate healthier as compared to their high-income counterparts. In Figure 1, which examined how often students with low income ate processed food, it was discovered that almost 41% of students in this category did not eat processed food at all. As compared to Figure 2, which examined how often students with high income ate processed food, only 25% did not eat processed food at all. In addition to this, in Figure 3, which examined how often students with low incomes ate their daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables, it was found that a majority (81.8%) ate the recommended serving at least sometimes. Compared to the results in Figure 4, which examines those with high incomes, only half of the students sometimes ate the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables while the other half did not at all. 

Figure 1: The pie chart above shows the percentage of students who earn $25-100 a week and how often they eat processed food in a week. 45.5% of participants eat processed food sometimes, 40.9% never eat processed food in a week, and 13.6% often eat processed food in a week. 

 

Figure 2: The pie chart presented above represents the percentage of Sophie Davis undergraduate students who earn $100-300 a week and how often they eat processed food in a week. 75% of participants eat processed food sometimes, 25% never eat processed food and 0% eat processed food often. 

Figure 3: The pie chart presented above represents the percentages of Sophie Davis undergraduate students who earn $25-100 a week and how often they eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. 50% of participants eat 5 servings sometimes, 31.5% eat 5 servings often and 18.2% never eat 5 servings 

Figure 4: The pie chart presented above shows the percentages of Sophie Davis undergraduate students who earn $100-300 a week and how often they eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day. 50% of participants eat 5 servings sometimes, 50% of them never eat 5 servings and 0% of them often eat 5 servings. 

Discussion

After analyzing the results, it is visible that the initial hypothesis is not supported by the findings of this experiment. The results demonstrate that prior to initial belief, those Sophie Davis students with low incomes on average eat healthier (which includes limiting intake of processed foods and eating the daily recommended servings of fruits and vegetables) than those with high incomes. This may be due to the Sophie Davis community at large, as possibly those with low incomes may comprehend the inherent health risks with not eating healthy more thoroughly as compared to their high-income counterparts. The other component may be that an increased access to money leads to convenience being favored over healthiness, while those with low incomes may not have a choice but to cook at home and thus be healthier inadvertently. It should be noted that these results cannot be applied to the broader college audience since Sophie Davis students are on a specific medical path, therefore influencing knowledge about healthy eating habits, and the audience was far too small for it to be applicable to a larger audience. In addition, students may have inaccurately self-reported for the sake of the survey, and certain students may have been more willing to take the survey over others, hence influencing the results to a degree. In the future, the correlation between income and healthy eating habits in all college students could be a possible avenue of exploration, as well as an investigation into if any causality can be established in the relationship between income and healthy eating habits. 

           References 

Abraham Sam, Noriega Brooke R., Shin Young Ju. College students’ eating habits and knowledge of nutritional requirements. Journal of Nutrition and Human Health.2018;2(1):13-17. Published 2018 Jan 17. DOI:10.35841/nutrition-human-health.2.1.13-17

Sogari G, Velez-Argumedo C, Gómez MI, Mora C. College Students and Eating Habits: A Study Using An Ecological Model for Healthy Behavior. Nutrients. 2018;10(12):1823. Published 2018 Nov 23. DOI:10.3390/nu10121823

 

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