Barriers to cooking and culinary confidence among college athletes

Date
2019
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University of Delaware
Abstract
Background: Newfound independence forces college students to develop their own cooking practices and meal-time behaviors, and, more importantly, college athletes must do this while maintaining their competitive edge. However, this population faces many barriers to cooking at home and struggles to have both confidence in their culinary skills along with a positive attitude toward cooking. Studies have shown that culinary confidence and culinary attitudes play an important role in diet quality and cooking practices. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine what barriers affect culinary confidence and culinary attitudes among young adult National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes enrolled as undergraduates at the University of Delaware (UD). Additionally, the cooking practices of the target population and their associations with reported barriers to cooking, culinary confidence, and culinary attitudes were explored. Design: This cross-sectional study utilized an online survey. Methods: A survey containing questions regarding cooking practices, culinary attitudes, culinary confidence, barriers to cooking, and basic demographic information was distributed to approximately 600 undergraduate NCAA athletes at UD and was completed by 110 respondents who met inclusion criteria. Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha, and bivariate regression were used in data analysis. P≤.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Of the 98 participants who answered a question about gender, 24 were males (24.5%) and 74 were females (75.5%). The majority of participants (89.8%) reported being between the ages of 18 and 21 with only 10.2% reporting an age of 22+. Significant barriers to cooking at home included the high cost of food, lack of support from family and/or friends, lack of time, the availability of someone else to cook meals, and limited access to food, a kitchen, kitchen tools, and transportation to get food. Preparing and cooking a meal using raw/fresh ingredients was positively correlated with both Culinary Confidence Scale scores [r(103)=.39, p<.001] and Culinary Attitudes Scale scores [r(108)=.32, p=.001]. A negative relationship was shown between Culinary Attitudes Scale scores and Barrier Education Scale scores [r(97)=-.21, p=.035]. Conclusions: Results from this study demonstrated that a lack of previous formal and/or informal cooking-related education especially in meal preparation/cooking and recipe reading is related to a more negative attitude toward cooking. Additionally, results showed that lack of support from family and/or friends to cook at home and lack of time to cook at home may be important barriers to high culinary confidence, positive culinary attitudes, and preparing meals at home.
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