Increasing School Meal Participation

Parental report of whether they noticed the school meal campaign. Assessed with 1 item: "In the last 6 weeks, have you seen any messages or advertising on Facebook encouraging children to eat school lunch or school breakfast?" Response options are "yes" (1) and "no" (0).

Parental report of the number of topics they recognize having seen in messages about school meals. Assessed with 1 item: "Which of these topics did the messages discuss, if any? Check all that apply." Response options list 8 topics plus options for "none of these" and "not sure." Number of topics recognized will be calculated as the sum of all topics that parents indicate they have seen. Those who answer, "none of these" and "not sure" will be coded as recognizing 0 topics. Those who report not noticing the school meal marketing campaign will be coded as recognizing 0 topics.

Parental report of the frequency with which they read their assigned campaign messages. Assessed with 1 item: "In the past month, how often did you read these messages?" This item will be scored on a 5 point scale ranging from "Never or less than 1 time per week" (1) to "Every day or more often" (5).

Parental report of the frequency with which they talked to others about their assigned campaign messages. Assessed with 1 item: "In the last month, how often did you talk to others about these messages?" This item will be scored on a 5 point scale ranging from "Never or less than 1 time per week" (1) to "Every day or more often" (5).

Parental report of the frequency with which they talked to others about school meals. Assessed with 3 items (e.g., "In the last month, how often did you talk to others about school meals?"). Response options are on a 5-point scale ranging from "Never or less than 1 time per week" (1) to "Every day or more often" (5). Responses to the 3 items will be averaged to create a mean score.

Parental report of the benefits of their child consuming school lunch. Assessed with 8 items (e.g., "My child eating school lunch helps my child do well in school"). Response options are on a 5-point scale ranging from "Strongly disagree" (1) to "Strongly agree" (5). Responses to the 8 items will be averaged to create a mean score.

Parental report of the benefits of their child consuming school breakfast. Assessed with 8 items (e.g., "My child eating school breakfast helps my child do well in school"). Response options are on a 5-point scale ranging from "Strongly disagree" (1) to "Strongly agree" (5). Responses to the 8 items will be averaged to create a mean score.

Parental knowledge that lunches served at their child's school are free to all students. Assessed with 1 item: "Are school lunches free for all students at your child's school?" Response options "yes" (coded as 1) and "no" or "not sure" (both coded as 0).

Parental knowledge that breakfasts served at their child's school are free to all students. Assessed with 1 item: "Are school breakfasts free for all students at your child's school?" Response options "yes" (coded as 1) and "no" or "not sure" (both coded as 0).

Parental perception of the healthfulness of the lunches served at their child's school. Assessed with 1 item: "How healthy or unhealthy are the school lunches at your child's school?" Response options are on a 5-point scale ranging from "Very unhealthy" (1) to "Very healthy" (5).

Parental perception of the healthfulness of the breakfasts served at their child's school. Assessed with 1 item: "How healthy or unhealthy are the school breakfasts at your child's school?" Response options are on a 5-point scale ranging from "Very unhealthy" (1) to "Very healthy" (5).

Parental report of the likelihood of encouraging their child to eat school lunch in the next month. Assessed with 1 item: "In the next month, how likely are you to encourage your child to eat school lunch?" Response options are on a 5-point scale ranging from "Not at all likely" (1) to "Extremely likely" (5).

Parental report of the likelihood of encouraging their child to eat school breakfast in the next month. Assessed with 1 item: "In the next month, how likely are you to encourage your child to eat school breakfast?" Response options are on a 5-point scale ranging from "Not at all likely" (1) to "Extremely likely" (5).

Parental report of the barriers preventing their child from eating school lunch. Assessed with 1 item: "What are some reasons that your child doesn't eat school lunch more often? Check all of the reasons that apply." Response options list 15 reasons plus "NA - my child eats school lunch every day or almost every day" and a free response option for "other." Total number of barriers selected will be summed. Those who report "NA - my child eats school lunch every day or almost every day" will be coded as having 0 barriers.

Parental report of the barriers preventing their child from eating school breakfast. Assessed with 1 item: "What are some reasons that your child doesn't eat school breakfast more often? Check all of the reasons that apply." Response options list 16 reasons plus "NA - my child eats school breakfast every day or almost every day" and a free response option for "other." Total number of barriers selected will be summed. Those who report "NA - my child eats school breakfast every day or almost every day" will be coded as having 0 barriers.

Parental report of household food insecurity. Assessed with 6 items (e.g., "In the last month, were you ever hungry but didn't eat because there wasn't enough money for food?") Response options include "no" or "yes"; "never true", "sometimes true", or "often true"; "only 1 or 2 days," "some days but not every day," or "almost every day." Responses of "often" or "sometimes" and "yes" are coded as affirmative (yes). Likewise, responses of "almost every day" and "some days but not every day" are coded as affirmative (yes). The sum of affirmative responses to the six questions in the module is the household's raw score on the scale.

Household food security status is assigned as follows:

Raw score 0-1-High or marginal food security Raw score 2-4-Low food security Raw score 5-6-Very low food security Analyses will dichotomize households into those with high or marginal food security and those with low or very low food security.

Parental report of child food insecurity. Assessed with 8 items (e.g., "In the last month, did you ever cut the size of your child's meals because there wasn't enough money for food?") Response options include "no" or "yes"; "never true", "sometimes true", or "often true"; "only 1 or 2 days," "some days but not every day," or "almost every day." Responses of "often" or "sometimes" and "yes" are coded as affirmative (yes). Responses of "almost every day" and "some days but not every day" are coded as affirmative (yes). The sum of affirmative responses to the 8 questions in the module is the child's raw score on the scale.

Child food security status is assigned as follows:

Raw score 0-1-High or marginal food security among children; Raw score 2-4-Low food security among children; Raw score 5-8-Very low food security among children Analyses will dichotomize households into those with children with high or marginal food security or children with low or very low food security.