Document Type
Poster Presentation
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Location
Online
Description
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in higher education institutions transitioning to online course delivery and limiting on-campus activities. With decreasing access to campus food service and restaurants, college students with limited cooking experience are now reliant on home-prepared meals.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore cooking skills and social media use for meal preparation in college students during the COVID-19 experience.
Method
This cross-sectional descriptive study utilized an online survey with U.S. college students early in the Covid-19 pandemic. The subset of questionnaire items used for this study included demographic, social media use, and cooking and shopping behaviors items.
Results
Nearly 30% of the college student respondents (N=282) self-identified as the primary person responsible for preparing meals in their homes, while 40% had shared responsibility. Over 50% of the respondents reported increasing meal preparation activities during the quarantine. At the same time, 64% increased their use of social media for researching food preparation techniques and recipe ideas. Sixty-two percent described having “good” grocery shopping skills, while only 51% described their cooking skills as “good”.
Conclusions
There is an identified need for providing food preparation and shopping skills education to support college students’ ability to manage and adapt during disruptive times.
Recommended Citation
Johnson, Katie; Sesser, Madelyn; Parks, Molly; Feazell, Cate; and Camel, Simone P., "17. Increase in Social Media Use to Support Increased Meal Preparation by College Students during the COVID-19 Experience" (2021). Undergraduate Research Symposium. 12.
https://digitalcommons.latech.edu/undergraduate-research-symposium/2021/poster-presentations/12
Johnson_Oral - Katie Johnson.m4a (907 kB)
Katie Johnson - Poster.pdf (607 kB)
17. Increase in Social Media Use to Support Increased Meal Preparation by College Students during the COVID-19 Experience
Online
Background
The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in higher education institutions transitioning to online course delivery and limiting on-campus activities. With decreasing access to campus food service and restaurants, college students with limited cooking experience are now reliant on home-prepared meals.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore cooking skills and social media use for meal preparation in college students during the COVID-19 experience.
Method
This cross-sectional descriptive study utilized an online survey with U.S. college students early in the Covid-19 pandemic. The subset of questionnaire items used for this study included demographic, social media use, and cooking and shopping behaviors items.
Results
Nearly 30% of the college student respondents (N=282) self-identified as the primary person responsible for preparing meals in their homes, while 40% had shared responsibility. Over 50% of the respondents reported increasing meal preparation activities during the quarantine. At the same time, 64% increased their use of social media for researching food preparation techniques and recipe ideas. Sixty-two percent described having “good” grocery shopping skills, while only 51% described their cooking skills as “good”.
Conclusions
There is an identified need for providing food preparation and shopping skills education to support college students’ ability to manage and adapt during disruptive times.