School lunch and learning behaviour in primary schools: an intervention study
Open accessAbstract
Background/objectives In addition to the nutritional benefits of healthier school food, anecdotes describe improvements in children's behaviour and educational outcomes when school food or the school dining room environment is improved. This study hypothesized that a school food and dining room intervention would improve pupils' learning-related classroom behaviour.Subjects/methods A controlled intervention trial involving six primary schools matched in triplets and randomly assigned to a 12-week intervention (promotion of healthier school food at lunchtime and changes in the school dining environment) or 12-week wait-listed control group. Study outcome was learning-related behaviours measured in a random sample of 146 pupils in years 3-5.Results On-task and off-task behaviours were observed and used as proxy measures for concentration and disengagement (disruption), respectively. Teacher-pupil on-task engagement was 3.4 times more likely in the intervention schools compared with the control schools (adjusted model odds ratio (OR)=3.40 (95% confidence interval (CI)=1.56, 7.36), P=0.009). However, on-task pupil-pupil behaviour was less likely in the intervention group (adjusted model OR=0.45 (95% CI=0.28, 0.70), P<0.001). Similarly, off-task pupil-pupil behaviour was more likely in the intervention group than in the control group in both the unadjusted model (OR=2.18 (95% CI=1.52, 3.13), P<0.001) and the adjusted model (OR=2.28 (95% CI=1.25, 4.17), P=0.007).Conclusions This study offers some support for the hypothesis that a school food and dining room intervention can have a positive impact on pupils' alertness. However, if raised alertness is not channelled and supervised, it may result in increased off-task behaviour when pupils are working together.
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The cohort has been found to be representative of similar age cohorts in Sweden as a whole in relation to demographics, health conditions and socio-economic variables.
“The cohort has been found to be representative of similar age cohorts in Sweden as a whole in relation to demographics, health conditions and socio-economic variables (11) .”
From Irregular eating of meals in adolescence and the metabolic syndrome in adulthood: results from a 27-year prospective cohort (2016) · cites this paper as [11]
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The effects of breakfast on behavior and academic performance in children and adolescents
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- Authors
- Golley, R., Baines, E., Bassett, P., Wood, L., Pearce, J., & Nelson, M.
- Corresponding author
- Nelson, M
- Venue
- European Journal of Clinical Nutrition
- Published
- 2010-09-01
- Volume
- 64
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 1280-1288
- ISSN
- 0954-3007 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-5640
- OpenAlex
- W1981992048
- Cited by
- 47
- References
- 17
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 13.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hal.science
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Trinity's Access to Research Output (TARA) (Trinity College Dublin) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Speech and Hearing › School Health and Nursing Education
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Keywords
- school meals, school food environment, classroom behavior, on-task behavior, off-task behavior, elementary school students, alertness, disengagement, healthy school meals
- MeSH terms
- Attention, Child, Child Behavior, Diet, Female, Food Services, Health Promotion, Humans, Learning, Male, School Health Services, Schools, Social Environment, Odds Ratio
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