Lunch Eating Pattern and Dietary Habits of High School Students Attending Online Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the curtailing of school meal services. This study aimed to compare the diets of students attending online classes who prepared their own lunch under these circumstances, with those of their counterparts who had their lunch prepared for them. In December 2020, a survey was conducted on 204 students (75 male and 129 female) at a high school in Gyeonggi-do. The results showed that more girls prepared their own lunch than boys (53.5% vs. 36.0%, respectively, P＜0.05). Further, more participants with working mothers prepared their own lunch compared to those with unemployed mothers (60.8% vs. 23.0%, respectively, P＜0.001). Lunch was prepared either by parents (47.5%), themselves (47.1%), or others (5.4%). A comparison of the Nutrition Quotient (NQ) was carried out between the subjects who prepared their own lunch and those who ate lunch prepared by their parents. The students who prepared their own lunch had significantly lower total (P＜0.05), balance (P＜0.01), and environment (P＜0.01) sectors of NQ-A than their counterparts. Especially, subjects whose parents prepared their lunch had beanㆍtofuㆍsoy milk more frequently (P＜0.01), tended to eat vegetables more frequently (P=0.059), and skipped breakfast less frequently (P＜0.01). In conclusion, this study suggested that high school students who have to prepare their own lunch at home during the COVID-19 pandemic are the newly emerging nutritionally vulnerable group. This study may provide the basic information necessary for preparing measures to maintain the diet quality of high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic and similar situations in the future when school meal services may not be available.