摘要：We examined whether young adult meal patterning, dietary intake, and home food availability differed among nonstudents, 2-year college students, and 4-year college students (N = 1687; mean age = 20.5 years). Unadjusted analyses showed that few young adults consumed optimal diets and, compared with 4-year college students, nonstudents and 2-year students consumed fewer meals and poorer diets. After controlling for sociodemographics and living arrangements, we found that over half of the observed associations remained significant ( P < .05). Nutrition interventions are needed for young adults, particularly specific at-risk groups. Little is known about eating habits and food practices during young adulthood, and few studies to date have explored the heterogeneity of young adult lifestyles and possible contextual influences on diet. Previous research on young adults has primarily focused on youths attending 4-year colleges, 1 – 4 with little understanding of diet-related factors among those who have less traditional college experiences (such as those who attend 2-year community or technical colleges) or who do not enroll in college after high school. 4 Thus, we sought to examine differences in young adults' dietary intake, meal patterns, and home food availability among (1) nonstudents, (2) students at 2-year colleges, and (3) students at 4-year colleges.
