Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify the factors of dependency related to fruit and vegetable liking and intake in college students and examine the relationship between liking and intake of fruits and vegetables from childhood to adulthood. A retrospective survey was administered to a randomly selected sample of young adults between the ages of 18 to 25 years from two Northwestern universities (n=676). Pearson's Chi-Square Tests with standardized residuals revealed females reported greater fruit and vegetable liking and fruit intake compared to males (p<.05). Upperclassmen and the 21 to 25 age group reported a greater frequency of vegetable liking and intake compared to underclassmen and the 18 to 20 age group (p<.05). Diminished vegetable liking and low fruit intake was weakly associated with being overweight or obese (p<.05). Individuals forced by caregivers to eat vegetables as a child reported a lower than expected frequency for vegetable liking than those not forced (p<.001). McNemar's Tests identified fruit and vegetable liking had significantly greater frequencies in young adulthood compared to childhood (p<.001). However, fruit and vegetable intake had significantly greater frequencies in childhood than young adulthood (p<.001). These factors associated with fruit and vegetable liking and intake and the shift in childhood liking and intake indicates areas for additional research.