Examining variations in fourth-grade children's participation in school-breakfast and school-lunch programs by student and program demographics.

Purpose/objectives: Analyses were conducted to examine variations in fourth-grade children's participation in school-breakfast and school-lunch programs by weekday, month, socioeconomic status, absenteeism, sex, and school-breakfast location.

Methods: Fourth-grade children were participants in a dietary-reporting validation study during the 2005-2006 or 2006-2007 school years in 17 or 8 schools, respectively, in one South Carolina school district. For the two respective school years, school-breakfast location was the classroom for six and seven schools, and for the remaining schools, the cafeteria. District administrative records provided information about 180 possible days of participation in the school-breakfast and school-lunch programs for each of 1,060 children (91% Black, 52% girls). The state's Office of Research and Statistics linked data on school-meal participation with information about individual children's socioeconomic status (eligibility for free or reduced-price school meals) and annual absenteeism from school.

Results: For school-provided breakfast, logistic regression showed participation rate differences by weekday (smallest for Monday [56.1%], largest for Wednesday [57.8%], p<0.0001), month (smallest for April [53.5%], largest for September [60.8%], p<0.0001), socioeconomic status (smallest for full-price status [27.5%], largest for free-meal status [63.4%], p<0.0001), school-breakfast location (smaller for breakfast located in the cafeteria [38%] than classroom [71%], p<0.0001), and absenteeism (p<0.0001). For school-provided lunch, logistic regression showed participation rate differences by weekday (smallest for Friday [81.9%], largest for Thursday [83.3%], p<0.0001), month (smallest for May [78.7%], largest for August [86.0%], p<0.0001), socioeconomic status (smallest for full-price status [72.1%], largest for free-meal status [84.9%], p<0.0001), and absenteeism (p<0.0001). There were no differences in participation rate by sex.

Applications for child nutrition professionals: Administrative participation records are used for forecasting purchasing and production. Using such records in research studies may provide insight into aspects of children's participation in school-provided meals. Districts and managers are encouraged to share administrative records of children's participation in school-provided meals with researchers.