Understanding Food Choices Among University Students: Dietary Identity, Decision-Making Motives, and Contextual Influences

TL;DR

University students eat differently in campus cafeterias versus other settings, with taste being the top factor in food choices.

Contribution

The study integrates students' dietary identities, decision-making motives, and contextual influences on food choices in institutional settings.

Findings

Consumption frequencies are consistently lower in university canteens compared to outside settings for all food categories.

Taste is the most important decision-making factor across food categories, while health motives are more relevant for healthier foods.

Self-identified dietary style is the strongest predictor of food consumption, especially for animal-based proteins.

Abstract

Background: Dietary habits established during young adulthood have long-term implications for health, and food choices among university students are strongly shaped by contextual factors. Institutional eating environments represent a relevant setting for promoting healthier dietary behaviors, yet limited evidence integrates students’ engagement with these settings, their food consumption patterns across contexts, and the individual decision-making processes underlying food choice. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed survey data from 1519 students enrolled at a large Italian university. Measures included sociodemographic characteristics, self-identified dietary style, engagement with the university canteen, consumption frequency of selected food categories across institutional and non-institutional contexts, and category-specific food-choice motivations. Data were analyzed using descriptive analyses, Borda count rankings, paired comparisons, and multiple linear regression models. Results: Clear contextual differences in food consumption emerged across all food categories, with consistently lower consumption frequencies within the university canteen compared to outside settings (all p < 0.001). The largest contextual gap was observed for fruit consumption (d = 0.94), with similarly pronounced differences for plant-based foods. Taste was the most salient decision-making factor across food categories (overall M ≈ 4.4), while health-related motives were more prominent for healthier foods and gratification for desserts. Across contexts, self-identified dietary style was the most consistent predictor of food consumption, explaining substantial variance for animal-based protein consumption (R2 = 0.293 in the canteen; R2 = 0.353 outside), whereas age and gender showed smaller, food-specific associations. Conclusions: The findings highlight institutional eating settings as distinct food environments in which individual dietary preferences are only partially expressed. Effective strategies to promote healthier eating among university students should move beyond generic approaches and integrate interventions targeting service-related engagement, category-specific choice architecture, and students’ dietary identities.