A study on junk food consumption behaviour among college student

The findings of the research lead to the conclusions that the tendency of replacing regular meals with junk food was more with female students.. 4 To study the impact of accessibility an

A Study on Junk Food Consumption Behaviour among College Students

By Prof A H Sequeira

NITK, Surathkal

A Sowmya*

Beryl Thomas*

Chahat Mahajan*

Chandra Kumar*

* MBA Students, NITK, Surathkal

ABSTRACT

The study of junk food consumption behaviour among college students is aimed to have an in depth analysis of food consumption trends and attitudes among college students The research takes up an exploratory approach and used primary data from sample survey conducted on a quota sample to arrive to conclusions The factors to be investigated in the study were identified from secondary literature Survey was conducted among a sample of students through a documented self-administered questionnaire Chi-square and Z-test were carried out to analyse the survey data The findings of the research lead to the conclusions that the tendency of replacing regular meals with junk food was more with female students Further , Post Graduate students were more concerned about the health impacts of junk food compared to Under Graduate students The research also indicates that factors like accessibility, taste, price and ambience are having an influence in driving people towards food outlets and these factors vary with gender and level of education

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Junk Food is defined by Centre for Science and Environment as ―any food, which is low in essential nutrients and high in everything else—in particular calories and sodium Junk foods contain little or no proteins, vitamins or minerals but are rich in salt, sugar, fats and are high in energy (calories)‖ So the common perception about junk food and its consumption is negative, since it happens to be a misfit in any good diet plan due to lack of nutritional value and high calorie content But over the years, several studies have observed that the consumers are opting for junk food in several instances It has also been proven as a profitable business sector to invest The need for this study is this scenario, to find reasons for people opting to pay and consume junk food and to know how much is their consumption rates and awareness levels on what they are consuming Past studies done world over have suggested many reasons for this trend and through our study we try to see about the same in a different context

The younger generation is seen to be the most attracted to junk foods and this also has been observed by several studies in the past This study is made on the same category of individuals The population for the study restricts itself to the under and post graduate student population of RIT to understand about the practices and perceptions of the younger generation, aged around 17-25 The relevance of choosing RIT is that it is institute of National repute in India Further, students from all parts of the country are represented, making it a population of individuals from diverse cultural, geographical and financial backgrounds from across the country This heterogeneity in population might provide results that could be relevant for common trends in India Most of the population being resident students, and hence their practices and choices are assumed to be more independent The reasons for their choices of food habits can be a good indicator of the food habits of college students in the country

Objectives

The research project envisaged the following research questions and objectives listed

in Table 1.1

Table 1.1: Research Questions and Research Objectives

1) How far junk foods are influencing the

regular food habits of students?

1) To understand the influence of the of junk foods into the regular food habits of students

2) What is the attraction towards the taste

of junk foods among students?

2) To study influence of taste and flavour of junk foods on students

3) What is the influence of brand value

and attractiveness of fast food outlets

on the consumption among students?

3) To access the influence of brand value and attractiveness on consumption of junk food

4) What is the accessibility to junk food

consumption?

4) To study the impact of accessibility and secondary services of junk food outlets on consumption behaviour 5) How do secondary factors like

ambience and service pattern at fast

food joints influence the behaviour?

5) To explore the awareness level among students regarding the impact

of junk foods on health 6) What is the level of awareness among

students regarding the impact of junk

foods on health?

Hypotheses

Based on literature and experience, the following null and alternative hypotheses were framed for the study

 H01: There is no difference of gender in the tendency of replacing regular meals with junk food

HA1: There is difference of gender in the tendency of replacing regular meals with junk food

 H02: Concern about health has no difference between UG and PG students

HA2: Concern about health has difference between UG and PG students

 H03: There no is significant relationship between factors affecting choice of junk food and gender of the student

HA3: There is significant relationship between factors affecting choice of junk food and gender of the student

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and education level of the student

HA4: There is significant relationship between factors affecting choice of junk food and education level of the student

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Several studies have taken place in vivid contexts related to junk food perceptions and its reasons

According to Mark K Jekanowski (2001) the demand for fast food depends heavily on the ease of consumer access to the product The fast food industry has continually found ways

to make its product more accessible, and this effort continues today with retail outlets appearing in such varied locations as office buildings, department stores and airports Much

of the growth in consumption is due to increasingly supply of convenience

A study by Firdause Abdullah (2011) explains that various dimension such as price reasonableness, special pricing offers in menu packages, discounts, special prices for regular customers, promotional pricing on new menu items and inclusion of local delicacies influence the customer preference in food service industry This study also reveals that brand names, spacious seating arrangements, adequate parking space, wide variety of menu items and attractiveness interior design have great influence in attracting customers

According to Oyedunni S Arulegun and Modupe (2011) despite there was a high level of awareness and knowledge of the constituents of the fast food and its risk for developing Non Communicable Diseases in future , respondents still engage in the consumption of this category of foods

A study conducted by Vinay Gopal J and his colleagues (2012) explains the role of television advertisements in attracting the college students to junk foods Majority of the sample studied had admitted of getting addicted to junk foods The study suggests a defiant need for the young generation to understand that there are various chemical additives added

to the junk foods and about the negligible nutrient levels in junk foods, for cultivating an effective, safe and healthy balanced diet

A report given by Naheed Vaida (2013) says that consumption of fast food was high during pre-lunch periods The flavour/taste attracts the maximum percent of respondents

while going for fast food Most of the respondents prefer branded fast food items and are willing to spend daily Rs.20-50 or more on buying fast food Majority of respondents agreed over the statement that eating of fast food is the way of showing that the respondents belong

to a higher society He also said that majority of the respondents agreed that consumption of fast food is more among girls than boys and agreed to the fact that urbanization has a greater influence on changing food habits of students

A study by Anita Goyal (2007) explains that young Indian consumer have the greatest value for taste and quality followed by ambience and hygiene

A study by Ya- li Huang (1994) explains that the students skipped breakfast (22%), lunch (8%), and dinner (5%); 80 percent of the students snacked at least once a day No significant differences found in frequency of meals skipped and snacks consumed between male and female

A study by Sahasporn Paeratakul (2003) explains that fast-food use may decline at the highest levels of education In this study, people with 4 or more years of college education reported lower fast-food consumption compared with those with high school or some college education

Summary of related literature is given in Table 2.1

Table 2.1: Summary of related literature

Ya- li Huang 1994 No significant difference between male and female in meals

skipped and snacks consumed

Mark K Jekanowski 2001 Demand for fast food depends on ease of consumer access

Sahasporn Paeratakul 2003 Fast food use declines among students at highest level of

education

Anita Goyal 2007 Youngsters in India give most importance to taste and

quality, followed by ambience and hygiene

Firdause Abdullah 2011 Influence of price discounts, brand names, infrastructure

facilities on attracting customers to outlets

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Oyedunni S Arulegun

and Modupe

2011 Consumption of fast food continues despite the awareness of

constituents and risks for developing diseases

Vinay Gopal J 2012 Role of advertisements in attracting college students, need

of younger generation to cultivate balanced diet

Naheed Vaida 2013 Attraction towards taste, preference towards branded food

items to show that they belong to a higher class in society

Through the study of literature survey different variables were identified that were found to

be affecting demand and consumption of junk foods (dependent variable) The variables in consideration for the study are listed in Table 2.2

Table 2.2: Independent and Dependent Variables identified

Accessibility

Consumption Behaviour of Junk Food Pricing & Discounts

Ambience

Amenities

Variety in Menu offerings

Taste

Quality

Brand Reputation

Service

Advertising

Hygiene

Gender

Level of Education

This research was mainly intended to study the effect of these independent variables

in detail and also to identify any other variables that tend to affect the consumption behaviour

of junk food among students of RIT

METHODOLOGY

The study of junk food consumption among RIT students adopted an exploratory study It involved identifying the trends and behaviours of RIT students with regard to junk food consumption The effect various factors on junk food consumption behaviour were identified as independent variables from the study of related literature

Inductive and deductive reasoning were employed in the study Survey data comprised of primary data from subjects A combination of quantitative and qualitative strategy was used to capture the data Hypotheses were tested by statistical data analysis (χ2 testing and z-test)

Tool

Survey method was used to conduct the study on a sample of the population using a structured self-administered questionnaire (Appendix I)

Sampling

Quota sampling technique was used for the population of size 4800 The population comprised of about 75 percent male and 25 percent female students; about 72 percent of undergraduate students and 28 percent of postgraduate students The same ratio of these categorizations was maintained to select the sample Within the quota, convenience sampling was used Sample size was calculated as 355 with 95 percent confidence The procedure of calculation of sample is provided in Appendix II The categorical distribution of the sample based on quota sampling employed has been shown in Table 3.1

Table 3.1: Categorical distribution of sample chosen

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Considering the trend of replacing regular meals with junk food, nearly 75-80 percent of the students responded as they would do it at times (often, occasionally and rarely), while only less than 5 percent were always opting for junk food Rest of the population never followed such a habit The percentage trend, shown separately for undergraduate and postgraduate students is shown in Figure 4.1 It was also observed that the trend was almost similar between undergraduate and postgraduate students

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Figure 4.1: Percentage of UG/PG Students who opt junk foods instead of regular meals

Source: Survey Data

In an analysis of the same trend between male and female students, the tendency has been observed to have a relationship, thereby rejecting the Null Hypothesis H01 Here a significantly higher percentage of female students were observed to consume junk food meal

often The analysis of observations is given in Table 4.1

Null Hypothesis H01=There is no difference of gender in the tendency of replacing regular meals with junk food

Alternate Hypothesis HA1= There is difference of gender is the tendency of replacing regular meals with junk food

Table 4.1: Students on whether they replace regular meals with junk food

Gender\Response Always Often Occasionally Rarely Never Total

Source: Survey Data

Note 1: χ 2 = 26.092

Note 2: d.f = 4; α = 0.05 => Critical Value = 9.49

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

UG PG

HA1 accepted There is difference of gender is the tendency of replacing regular meals with junk food The observation is graphically represented as shown in Figure 4.2

Figure 4.2: Percentage of M/F Students who opt for junk foods instead of regular meals

Source: Survey Data

In an analysis of the factors that are influencing the food habits of students, it was observed that availability and time constraint make people opt their existing food habits This was observed to be similar for male and female students For more than 40 percent of the respondents, availability was the driving factor while over 20 percent were driven by time constraints and schedules that gave them fewer choices

The factors influencing food habits and corresponding percentage of students who were influenced by each of the factors are shown in Figure 4.2

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20

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30

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45

male female

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Figure 4.3: Percentage of students vs Factors affecting their food habits

Source: Survey Data

In an analysis of the level of concern of students about the health impacts of junk foods, nearly 60 percent responded that they are ―somewhat concerned‖ about it While 20 percent were highly concerned, the rest were not much concerned on this aspect Both genders responded in a similar way in this aspect A graphical representation of this data is shown in Figure 4.3

Figure 4.4: Percentage of M/F Students vs Level of concern on health impacts of junk

food

Source: Survey Data

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

availibilty time constraint peer pressure price factor others

MALE FEMALE

0

10

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30

40

50

60

70

very much concerned somewhat concerned don't worry about it don't care

MALE FEMALE