Age Group: Young adolescents (grades 6 to 8)

Statewide Assessment of Local Wellness Policies in Pennsylvania Public School Districts

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This paper assesses Pennsylvania public school district local wellness policies, compares the policies to local wellness policy mandate requirements and provides information about the local wellness policy development process. Researchers found that all required school districts in the state established a local wellness policy and almost all (85.6%-100%) met each mandate requirement (e.g., included goals More

Evaluating the Impact of Competitive Food and Beverage Policies on Body and Weight Patterns Among California Children and Adolescents

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Capitalizing on a natural experiment and existing data, this project will investigate the impact of competitive food and beverage policies on child and adolescent weight status. This work specifically includes the evaluation of the impact of competitive food and beverage policies adopted by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on patterns in BMI and More

Analyzing the Financial Impact of Selling Healthy Versus Unhealthy Foods on a Small Store in a Low-Income Neighborhood

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To better understand how to improve healthy food access in low-income neighborhoods, the aim of this study is to examine financial incentives around selling specific types of food. Specifically, this research will: (a) analyze the financial benefits of selling healthy and unhealthy food items from the perspective of a small food store business in a More

Assessing an Obesity Audit Tool and Determining Whether School Policies and Environments Predict Relative Weight Outcomes

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The purpose of this study is to assess the reliability and validity of a brief, low-cost school environment audit tool, which is currently administered to all Pennsylvania Keystone Healthy Zone public schools. In addition, this research will also determine whether school policies and environments predict relative weight outcomes. The first phase of this work will More

Investigating Access to Affordable Healthy Foods Among Rural Low-Income Children in Maine

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The goal of this study is to examine how food environments influence rural childhood obesity rates and food choices, in order to ultimately help policymakers find effective rural policy interventions. Specifically, this research will investigate the community-based healthy food environment (defined as food access, cost and quality for healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables, More

Identifying and Evaluating Food Environment Changes Improving Access to Affordable Healthy Foods in Low-Income Communities

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The goal of this research is to evaluate the Fresh to You (FTY) program, which aims to increase year-round access to affordable, high-quality, fresh fruits and vegetables for low-income families through implementation of year-round discount fruit and vegetable markets in community organizations. Specifically, this work will consist of (a) conducting process evaluations of FTY in More

Evaluating Nutrition Policies and Practices in U.S. Secondary Schools

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This aim of this work is to evaluate disparities in school-level nutrition policies and practices across the U.S. More specifically, the objective of this research is to (a) determine the prevalence of school-level nutrition policies and practices in a large sample of schools across multiple states stratified by school-level socioeconomic status, geographic location, and racial/ethnic More

Analyzing Food and Entertainment Companies’ Policies on Food Marketing to Children

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The goal of this work is to provide an in-depth examination and comparison of industry efforts to self-regulate food and beverage marketing to children. More specifically, this macro-level analysis will: (a) analyze, compare, and contrast food and entertainment companies’ policies on food marketing to children with respect to their nutrition standards, media approaches covered, and More