• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1388-1397
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• 2005

This study has been carried out to obtain information regarding to the food habits including health-related behaviors, the nutrition knowledge and the satisfaction on the dormitory food service. The subjects of this study were 758 college students (580 male and 178 female) residing in the dormitory in Ulsan. The data were obtained through questionnaire and interview, and were analyzed using the SPSS package program. the results of this study are as follows: The average age of the subjects was $20.7\pm2.3$ years old. The average height and weight of male were $175.2\pm5.0\;cm\;and\;69.4\pm9.6\;kg$, respectively. Those of female were $162.6\pm4.1\;cm\;and\;51.8\pm5.9\;kg$, respectively. The BMI value of male was $22.6\pm0.1$ which ranged within normal level, but that of female was $19.6\pm0.2$ which ranged underweight level. In the case of food habits, $26.0\%$ of total subjects always skipped a meal (especially breakfast). The main reasons for skipping meals were no time to eat, no appetite, and weight control. Most of subjects ($69.3\%$) have usually eaten snack after dinner, their most favorite food was noodle (ramen), and the next was pizza. With regard to the health care, there was a significant difference between male and female respect to smoking (p<0.001), drinking (p<0.01) and exercise level (p< 0.001). The mean food habit score of the subjects was $59.9\pm11.1$. Male students had a higher food habit score than female students (male: $60.6\pm10.9$, female: $57.7\pm11.4$), and the group residing longer period had a higher food habit score than the one residing shorter period. Average nutrition knowledge score of subjects was $7.8\pm1.8$. Gender, residing periods, monthly pocket money influenced on the nutrition knowledge score. Female had a higher score than that of male (P<0.001), and the group residing longer period had a higher score than the one residing shorter period (p<0.01), and the group who had more monthly pocket money had a higher score than the one who had less. No significant correlation was found between food habit score and nutrition knowledge score. In the case of dormitory food service, the total subjects showed high satisfaction scores for the sanitation and the atmosphere, while low scores for the menu and the quality of food service. This study may provide basic information on the eating habits and health-related behaviors of college students in dormitory. However, further studies and nutrition counseling are needed to improve food habits and nutrition knowledge.