Jenna Kourajian¹, Sherri Stastny^1,, Ardith Brunt¹

Background: Many college students do not have the knowledge to make traditional dishes from simple ingredients, or cook a meal from scratch. Purpose: To evaluate the association between participants’ perceived cooking skills, food preparation frequency, selected indicators of diet quality and BMI. Methods: Non-experimental cross sectional survey design using questionnaire evaluating confidence in cooking skills (PCSS), food preparation frequencies (FPFS), diet quality (frequency of consumption of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and low-fat dairy), and anthropometrics among 968 students at one Midwestern university. Correlations and chi square were performed to determine the relationships of PCSS/FPFS, indicators of healthy eating and BMI, and differences in response per variable, respectively. Results: Over half reported feeling very confident in their cooking skills; 15% report preparing meals daily. Higher PCSS was correlated to higher vegetable intake (P<0.001) and meeting the recommendations for vegetables (P<0.001). PCSS was not associated with meeting recommendations for fruits, whole grains, or low-fat dairy. Higher PCSS was correlated with higher BMI (P=0.001). PCSS was positively associated with FPFS (P<0.001). Although higher PCSS was not associated with fruit, whole grain, and low-fat dairy intake, students with higher PCSS may be more likely to prepare and consume vegetables.

nutrition education, cooking skills, diet quality