College students’ health attitudes, perceptions of restaurant menu items, and purchase intentions

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to assess college students’ health attitudes and determine if students’ perceptions of restaurant menu items’ healthiness, tastiness, and intention to purchase varied by their health attitudes. An expert panel of registered dietitians was used to rate the healthiness of 17 menu descriptions from a full-service, casual dining restaurant chain. The responses of 153 students to an online survey revealed students identified as having low health attitudes were more likely to rate unhealthier menu items as tastier and with a higher purchase intention compared to students with high health attitudes.