Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Multi-Year Examination Of Gardening Experience And Fruit And Vegetable Intake During College, Daniel Staub, Sarah E. Colloy, Melissa D. Olfert, Kendra Kattleman, Wenjun Zhou, Tanya M. Horacek, Geoffrey W. Greene, Ivana Radosavljevic, Lisa Franzen-Castle, Anne E. Mathews

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Gardening has been positively associated with fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption based on short-term studies among children, but long-term data among adolescents and young adults are lacking. This investigation sought to elucidate the association between gardening experience and FV intake among college students over a two-year period. Students (N = 593) from eight universities were assessed at the end of their freshman (Y1) and sophomore (Y2) years during the springs of 2016 and 2017, respectively. At each time point, participants completed the NCI FV Screener and questions related to gardening experience and FV-related attitudes and behaviors. Students were then categorized …