Lunch Preference vs. Gender

 

Background Research

I decided to use http://google.com to find background information on whether gender has an association with whether or not a student packs a lunch or not.

First I tried, “gender + packed lunched.” I found a link about an article stating that children’s packed lunches are not as healthy as school meals. (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070110065214.htm) I also found a link on the number of children who pack lunches in the UK. This study concluded that just under half of the lunches eaten by children were packed lunches. ( http://www.just-food.com/store/product.aspx?id=47673&lk=wpud69 )

Next, I tried “packed lunches + high school students.” I found a link that had a picture of high school student with a packed lunch. ( http://www.fotosearch.com/DGT543/42-17108798/ ). Another link I found was of Hall County School trying to convince parents that school meals or healthier and cheaper than a packed lunch. (http://www.hallco.org/main/schoolnutrition.asp)

Then, I tried “packed lunch vs. school lunch.” A link that came up was a study that compared the nutritional content of a school lunch and packed lunch for a period of one week. The study concluded that school lunches were more nutritional than packed lunches. (http://ww2.aps.edu/users/apsedumain/Data/Files/91AprilMay2005Issue.pdf?20070501053735)

After not finding what I was looking for I decided to switch search engines. So I switched to http://yahoo.com  . I decided to try “proportion of students who pack lunch.” The results I found were a website on waste management. (www.ecoliteracy.org/programs/pdf/rethinking_waste.pdf) I also found a link on the cleanliness of a cafeteria, in the Philippines. (http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/philippines_35981.html)

Next, I tried searching “gender + packed lunches.” This gave me some results on lunch ideas, and nutritional facts about lunches. (http://www.moscowfood.coop/archive/lunchbox.html and http://www.uaex.edu/miller/News/haleys_comment/2006/
Tips_bag_lunches_safe_may32006.pdf)

Then, I tried “buy pack lunch survey” I found a link in about.com about what mothers and kids think about lunches. In the survey, 47% of moms incorporate items into the lunch that are nutritional and 47% of kids help pack their lunch. I also found newspaper article on parents and kids thoughts about packing a lunch. (http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060905/ART06/609040331)

Finally, for my last search I tried, “survey high school lunch”, this search gave me an article that stating cafeteria lunches are healthier than the packed lunches kids bring from home. The final search that I tried is “study high school lunch,” After doing many searches; I don’t think that there was ever a study done to determine whether boys or girls pack more lunches.