ICAN: Infant, Child,
& Adolescent Nutrition
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High School Journalists Write About Nutrition and Physical Activity
Jeffrey S Hampl, Donna M. Winham and Christopher M. Wharton
ICAN: Infant, Child, & Adolescent Nutrition 2012 4: 93 originally published online 23 January 2012
DOI: 10.1177/1941406411435170
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vol. 4 • no. 2
ICAN: Infant, Child, & Adolescent Nutrition
Adolescents
High School Journalists Write About
Nutrition and Physical Activity
Jeffrey S Hampl, PhD, RD, Donna M. Winham, DrPH, MCHES, and Christopher M. Wharton, PhD
Abstract: Many content analyses of
mass media and health messages have
been conducted, but little is known
regarding the perceptions of high school
students about health-related topics.
The authors conducted a content analysis of 218 newspapers collected from
25 Arizona high schools published during the 2003-2004 academic year.
Two independent evaluators read each
entire newspaper, identified qualifying
articles (n = 95), and categorized content by the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for
Americans. Evaluators sorted each article’s content into one or more groups
reflecting the MyPyramid food categories and tracked article themes related
to harms or benefits of lifestyle choices.
Articles were also scored regarding
information accuracy. Categorizing by
the 2005 Dietary Guidelines, the most
frequently mentioned article topics
were “carbohydrates” or “reduced sugars” in foods (55%), “weight management” (53%), and “physical activity”
(45%). In all, 15% of articles included
some incorrect information in their text.
These data show that healthy eating and
active lifestyles are important concerns
for high school journalism students.
Journalism and dietetics professionals
should volunteer with high school journalism classes to encourage these interests and to promote greater coverage of
nutrition and health issues as well as
more accurate reporting.
Keywords: adolescents; nutrition; high
school newspapers; content analysis;
journalism
The average US adolescent accumulates
more than 10.5 hours of media exposure each day, and arguably, the media
are among the leading providers of information to adolescents.1 With topics ranging from fashion to fitness, media in all
forms influence youth and are considered
actionable sources of health information.2-4
particular.6 These data do not include
time spent reading online magazines or
newspapers.1 Adolescents consider newspaper reading to be a source of clout—
the result of respect from peers and
adults—and the amount of time spent
reading newspapers, albeit a fraction of
total media exposure, increases significantly throughout the teenage years.7
A multitude of research publications
have documented the health-related content of nationwide, city, and college,8-10
and newspaper articles have been found
to influence health behaviors.11 However,
studies that use high school journalists or
“. . . adolescents tend to be influenced to a greater
extent by peers than by parents, thereby shaping
assorted health behaviors, . . .”
Although adolescents pay particular
attention to “screen-based” media (eg,
television), reading remains a popular
leisure-time activity for young people.5
Data from the Kaiser Family Foundation
show that 43% of 15- to 18-year-olds
spend at least 30 minutes a day reading
books, magazines, or newspapers, and
43% of these spend at least 5 minutes a
day reading newspapers in
newspapers as a data source are quite
rare. This gap in the research literature
is surprising because high school newspapers have become a sophisticated
medium produced by and for adolescents. Given the impact of newspaper articles on well-being,11 high school
newspapers—one of the few peer-based
media available to students—could serve
as utilizable sources of information and
DOI: 10.1177/1941406411435170. From Nutrition Program, School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona. Address correspondence
to Donna M. Winham, DrPH, MCHES, Nutrition Program, School of Nutrition and Health Promotion, Arizona State University, 500 North 3rd Street, Phoenix, AZ 85004;
e-mail: donna.winham@asu.edu.
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ICAN: Infant, Child, & Adolescent Nutrition
motivators for behavior change related
to nutrition and physical activity.12 This
is evidenced by research documenting
effects of peer-led, school-based education strategies on a variety of health
behaviors.13,14 Furthermore, adolescents
tend to be influenced to a greater extent
by peers than by parents, thereby shaping assorted health behaviors, including
food and beverage choices; use of marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol; and sexual
activity.15-17
Background
Social cognitive theory provides a theoretical basis for understanding how
high school newspapers might influence adolescents’ dietary intake and
physical activity. Founded on reciprocal
determinism—a triad of environmental determinants, cognitive and personal
factors, and behavior patterns—social
cognitive theory holds that these 3 factors
interact, influence, and cannot be separated from each other.18 Based on social
cognitive theory, nutrition- and physical activity–related articles in high
school newspapers could reverberate
and influence students’ health choices.
For example, a high school journalism student in the school’s cafeteria (ie,
the environment) may be prompted to
write an article on high-fat foods for
the school’s newspaper. Students reading the article can become aware (cognitive) of the importance of fruits and
vegetables in the diet and set goals
(personal) to eat 5 or more servings of
fruits and vegetables a day. The hopeful outcome is that health-related articles gradually can influence students’
eating patterns or actions (behavior)
to bring changes to school cafeteria
menus (environment, once again).
As a theoretical framework of mass communication research, agenda-setting theory holds that news media determine the
importance and salience assigned to issues,
or, as Cohen19 argued, mass media “may
not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but is stunningly
successful in telling people what to think
about.” According to agenda-setting theory, information flows in 2 steps. First,
media-informed individuals become aware
of a health-related topic. Second, they use
interpersonal skills to share information
with less media-dependent peers. Agendasetting theory has predominantly focused
on political science and election outcomes.
Increasingly, health researchers have used
the theory as the crux of their research. For
example, Jones et al20 assessed agendasetting theory related to mammography use
and breast self-exams. The authors found
that mothers in their sample served as the
primary media contact. They then shared
this information with their daughters,
who were less likely to encounter breast
health issues in the mass media. In reference to high school newspapers, reporting on health topics would be the first step
in agenda setting. Individuals reading these
articles would then go on to share healthrelated information with peers who may
not read the newspaper.
High school newspapers have
potential as an effective means of
health promotion. However, to our
knowledge, only 2 previous studies
have used high school journalism
programs as a data source, and neither
collected data on nutrition or physical
activity. To determine what high school
students write about related to tobacco
use, Malone et al17 collected surveys
from 136 student newspaper editors
and found that 78% reported their
high school had published tobaccorelated articles during the 2 years prior
to data collection. Student editors then
self-selected tobacco-related articles
(n = 257) and submitted them to the
researchers, who reported that nearly
half of all articles focused on tobacco
control policies but only 16% focused on
tobacco’s heath effects. Freeman et al21
assessed advertisements for ultraviolet
(UV) tanning, which increases the risk
of melanoma, in 3 Colorado counties’
high school newspapers. Representatives
from each participating school (n = 23)
self-selected 3 or more newspaper
issues to be sent to the authors, who
reported that at least 1 newspaper issue
from 11 schools contained a UV tanning
advertisement and only 2 of the total 40
advertisements included a reference to
parental guidance.
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Often, health scientists take a paternalistic approach to adolescent health.
Little is done, though, to listen to what
high school students themselves have to
say about nutrition and physical activity. The current study was part of a larger
research project aimed at advancing
reporting among high school journalism
students.22,23 The study objective was to
assess Arizona high school newspapers
from the 2003-2004 academic year to gain
insight into nutrition- and physical activity–
related health topics of concern to student journalists.
Methods
Recruitment
The Arizona Interscholastic Press
Association provided contact information for newspaper and yearbook advisers employed by Arizona high schools
during late summer 2003. Of 156 high
schools on the list, 42 produced yearbooks but not newspapers. Contacts at
the remaining 114 schools verified that
they supervised a student journalism
program that produces periodic newspapers. We invited advisors to provide
a copy of each newspaper issue printed
during the 2003-2004 academic year.
To encourage participation and to minimize schools’ costs, we provided the
advisors large, self-addressed, postagepaid envelopes so newspaper issues
could be mailed to us as they were
printed during the academic year.
Journalism advisors from 49 schools
originally consented to send newspapers. However, 9 schools did not participate because of lack of time (n = 3), lack
of interest (n = 3), or because their journalism program was terminated during
or prior to the study period (n = 3). An
additional 15 schools sent some newspaper issues but not their complete set.
These schools were excluded from analysis because of missing content. A total
of 25 schools provided complete sets of
newspapers to be used as a data source
for a content analysis of students’ articles
and their relevance to nutrition and physical activity issues. The participating 25
schools were located in both urban and
rural sectors of Arizona. The majority of
vol. 4 • no. 2
schools (76%) were in the metro Phoenix
area, which is the major population hub
of Arizona.
Codebook Development
Two evaluators, who were unaware
of the exact study purpose developed a
codebook to ensure consistency in identifying articles appropriate for the content analysis. Evaluators went through
several hours of training with the principal investigator spread over multiple days
to ensure consistency. The codebook
itself was pilot-tested using 5 high school
newspaper issues not included in the
final sample to verify uniform interpretation of coding categories.
To be deemed appropriate by evaluators, an article’s coverage of nutrition or
physical activity topics had to occupy at
least 2 full paragraphs or more than one
third of the full story as measured by line
count of the item. Letters to the editor
and articles reporting sports events outcomes, student athlete profiles, restaurant
reviews, or recipes were not included.
Articles covering a specific disease (eg,
anorexia nervosa) were excluded unless
disease prevention or health promotion via nutrition or physical activity was
included. Articles covering nutrition supplements were rejected if they did not
mention obtaining nutrients from foods.
Based on the 5 A Day program’s standards, evaluators did not consider french
fries or other fried potatoes to be vegetables when categorizing articles that mentioned foods.24
When newspaper articles mentioned a
food or beverage, evaluators used previous research as a guide to categorize
combination foods by their dominant
ingredient (eg, hamburgers belonged to
the meat and beans group).25 This was
done to sort articles into food groups of
MyPyramid, the official eating guide of
the United States.26 High-energy, lownutrient foods were counted as “discretionary calories” in MyPyramid. For
purposes of this study, discretionary calories comprised fats and sweeteners added
to foods (eg, sugar and butter) and food
and beverage items that are mostly fats
(with the exception of oils, which comprise a unique food group), caloric
ICAN: Infant, Child, & Adolescent Nutrition
sweeteners, and/or alcoholic beverages
(eg, soda, candy, and beer). Articles with
terms such as garbage foods, junk foods,
and fast foods without additional clarification were coded as discretionary calories.
Interrater Scores
Working separately, each evaluator
reviewed newspapers to identify articles
appropriate for inclusion in the content
analysis (100% overlap). Each evaluator coded newspaper articles separately,
but came together twice during the procedure to ensure consistency in application of codebook rules in accordance
with established newspaper coding procedures.27 In each instance, evaluators alleviated differences of opinion by
reviewing codebook rules and determining their most appropriate application.
Evaluators determined each article’s relevance to one or more of the 9 topics of the
2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.28
When articles mentioned food or beverages, evaluators categorized them into
one or more categories of MyPyramid.
Following the methodology of Main et al,29
newspaper articles were coded for the
presence or absence of each of the Dietary
Guidelines and MyPyramid categories,
rather than forcing evaluators to select one
guideline or category if 2 or more were
covered in an article. Finally, evaluators
tracked the reporting of incorrect nutrition
and physical activity information in articles,
for example, stating that sports drinks produce dehydration, and so on.
SPSS (version 17.0, SPSS, Chicago,
IL) was used for data entry and analyses. Cohen’s k values were calculated to
assess intercoder reliability for the 17 categorical values on our coding form. Four
variables had k values of 1.0, indicating complete agreement between coders. The remaining variables had k values
between 0.83 and 0.96, indicating excellent agreement.30 Frequency analyses
were also conducted to describe content
analysis outcomes.
Human Subjects Approval
The Human Subjects Committee of the
Institutional Review Board at Arizona
State University approved this research
project.
Results
Overall, we received 218 newspapers, or complete sets of all issues from
25 participating high schools in Arizona.
Schools printed a mean of seven newspaper issues (median = 8) during the
2003-2004 academic year. Evaluators
determined that 116 issues mentioned ≥1
article related to the Dietary Guidelines
or ≥1 article related to a MyPyramid food
group. These articles were included in
the content analysis, yielding a mean of
0.53 health-related articles per issue.
Categorizing by the 2005 Dietary
Guidelines for Americans (Table 1), our
data showed that most articles (55%) discussed carbohydrates, whereas 53% and
45% of articles focused on weight management and physical activity, respectively. Very few articles covered sodium
and potassium (8% of articles), alcoholic
beverages (7%), or food safety (3%).
Coding by MyPyramid categories (Table
2), most articles (87%) that mentioned
foods and beverages included discretionary calorie items, followed by meats and
beans (50%) and grains (44%). The oil
group was least commonly mentioned
(14%) within articles that mentioned
foods or beverages.
Our data showed that 15% of articles
contained erroneous information, ranging
from misuse of words to blatant misstating of facts (Table 3).
Discussion
Article titles such as “Shedding Holiday
Pounds,” “Possible Statewide Junk Food
Ban in Schools,” and “Soda Gets the
Boot” indicate that high school journalists are interested in local news, in particular those topics that relate directly to
themselves and their peers. Spear12 did
not assess nutrition- or physical activity–
related health topics, but she did report
that high school journalists cover issues
found in their schools, such as racial tension and alcohol abuse.
Based on this premise, our sample of
high school journalists reported on topics observed in their schools. There was
a particular interest in the growing overweight problem and its sequelae in the
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ICAN: Infant, Child, & Adolescent Nutrition
Table 1.
References to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans in High School Newspaper Articles
Dietary Guideline
Guideline Message
Articles
Mentioning
Guideline;
n = 116 (%)
Example Articles
Carbohydrates
Choose and prepare foods and
beverages with little added
sugars.
55
“Vending Machines May Be No More” Palantir,
Tucson, AZ; “Junk Food Debunked” Arcadian,
Phoenix, AZ
Weight
management
Balance calories from foods
and beverages with calories
expended.
53
“Eating Unhealthy and Loving it” Jackrabbit,
Mesa, AZ; “Group Lists Best, Worst Snacks for
Kids” Apache, Fort Thomas, AZ
Physical activity
Engage in regular physical
activity and reduce sedentary
activities.
45
“Teenagers Abuse Nicotine to Lose Extra Pounds,
fat” Demon Dispatch, Phoenix, AZ; “Feel Like
Taking a Walk?” Prowler, Peoria, AZ
Adequate nutrients
within calorie
needs
Choose foods that limit the
intake of saturated and trans
fats, cholesterol, added sugars,
salt, and alcohol.
37
“Westwood: A Snack-Free School” War Chant,
Mesa, AZ; “Teen Dieting: Fad Diets Can Be
Unhealthy” Papoose, Globe, AZ
Fats
Keep total fat intake between
20% and 35% of calories;
consume <10% of calories
from saturated fatty acids and
<300 mg/day of cholesterol.
28
“Healthy Conscience” String, Sedona, AZ;
“Low Carbohydrate Diets Actually Dangerous”
Challenge, Phoenix, AZ
Food groups to
encourage
Choose a variety of fruits
and vegetables; consume ≥3
whole-grain products per day;
consume 3 cups per day of
fat-free or low-fat milk.
25
“Healthy Alternatives” Paw Print, Chandler,
AZ; “Diets Do Not Measure up to People’s
Expectations” Paradise Press, Paradise Valley,
AZ
Sodium and
potassium
Consume <2300 mg of sodium
per day; consume potassiumrich foods, such as fruits and
vegetables.
8
“Eating Healthy Remains Hefty Problem” Utopian,
Glendale, AZ; “Know Your Nutrition Facts” Ashes,
Scottsdale, AZ
Alcoholic
beverages
Alcoholic beverages should
not be consumed by children
and adolescents; adults who
choose to drink alcoholic
beverages should do so
sensibly and in moderation.
7
“Shedding Holiday Pounds” Cooper Chronicle,
Bisbee, AZ; “Teens Admit Drinking to Help Relieve
Stress” Demon Dispatch, Phoenix, AZ
Food safety
Clean hands, food contact
surfaces, and fruits and
vegetables; cook foods to
safe temperature; avoid raw
milk, eggs and sprouts and
undercooked meat and poultry.
3
“Fast Food Nutrition and Law Suits” Wolf Howl,
Chandler, AZ; “Cafeteria Cleanliness Measures up
to State Standards” View, Phoenix, AZ
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ICAN: Infant, Child, & Adolescent Nutrition
Table 2.
References to MyPyramid Categories in High School Newspaper Articles
MyPyramid
Category
Example Foods and
Beverages
Articles
Mentioning
Category;
n = 91 (%)
Example Articles
Discretionary
calories
Doughnuts, salad dressing,
sugar, syrup, butter, potato
chips, soda, french fries,
wine, beer
87
“School’s on a Diet: Proposal Seeks to Prohibit
Junk Food” Demon Dispatch, Phoenix, AZ;
“Soda Gets the Boot” Jackrabbit, Mesa, AZ
Meat and beans
Beef, ham/pork, chicken,
eggs, soy beans, peanut
butter, veggie burgers, mixes
nuts, canned tuna
50
“Homemade Lunches: Time-Efficient, CostEffective” Knightly News, Avondale,
AZ; “Cafeteria Needs Vegetarian Options”
Challenge, Phoenix, AZ
Grains
Oatmeal, tortillas, noodles,
ready-to-eat breakfast
cereals, spaghetti, pretzels,
wild rice
44
“Got Carbs?” El Guerrero, Tucson, AZ; “‘No
Meat for Me!’ Says HHS Vegetarian” Paw Print,
Chandler, AZ
Vegetables
Spinach, tofu, corn, iceberg
lettuce, tomato juice, carrots,
potatoes, mushrooms
42
“How to be a Healthier Person” Paradise
Press, Paradise Valley, AZ; “Ways to Eat Healthy”
Prowler, Peoria, AZ
Fruits
Apples, bananas,
strawberries, grapes,
oranges, raisins, 100% fruit
juice, fruit cocktail
42
“Atkins Annoyance” Arcadian, Phoenix, AZ;
“Possible Statewide Junk Food Ban in Schools”
Cooper Chronicle, Bisbee, AZ
Milk
Milk, pudding, ice cream,
yogurt, cheese
37
“Shape Up, Eat Right, Get Fit, Be Healthy”
Utopian, Glendale, AZ; “Exercising Good Eating
Habits” View, Phoenix, AZ
Oils
Olive oil, canola oil, butter
14
“Fit or Fat: The Real Way to Lose Weight”
Knightly News, Avondale, AZ; “Students
Discuss Cafeteria Choices” Mustang Express,
Peoria, AZ
United States. Data from Ogden et al31
showed that the prevalence of overweight
(ie, gender-specific body mass index
[BMI] for age greater than or equal to the
95th percentile) more than tripled during the past 20 years. Students who are
overweight or at risk for overweight (ie,
gender-specific BMI for age 85th to 94th
percentile) not only have an increased risk
of chronic disease but are also more likely
to suffer from poor self-esteem and disordered eating. For example, Thompson
et al32 documented that high school girls
who were overweight or at risk for overweight were more likely than other girls to
be dissatisfied with their bodies and were
more likely to diet and to make disparaging remarks about their bodies.
Research using agenda-setting theory
has shown a direct relationship between
media content and public policy interest on that issue.33 This premise was useful in this study, in that 87% and 55% of
articles focused on discretionary calories and carbohydrates, respectively. The
majority of these stories covered “pouring
rights” (ie, contracts that give soft drink
companies exclusive access to school
districts) and repeated attempts to ban
sodas from Arizona schools.34 In 2004, a
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Table 3.
Inclusion of Incorrect Information in High School Newspaper Articles
Articles
With
Incorrect
Information
15%
Example Text
“High-protein, low-carb diets have been proven to cause
several long-term health defects, including . . . kidney damage,”
Arcadian, Phoenix, AZ
“You should also drink less alcohol and eat more sweets,”
Copper Chronicle, Bisbee, AZ
“Proteins do boost one’s level of activity,” Challenge, Phoenix, AZ
“Big Mac healthier than Mc’Salad,” Jackrabbit, Mesa, AZ
“[Sports drink] contain sugar that can further dehydrate you,”
Palantir, Tucson, AZ
pilot project sponsored by the Arizona
Department of Education led 8 schools to
remove high-sugar foods from their campuses.35 Knowing the potential impacts of
this initiative, journalism students in our
sample frequently reported on the policy of banning foods and beverages from
schools, thereby priming their fellow students on this topic. Despite the outcry of
high school journalists and their peers,
the Arizona legislature and governor
passed a bill in April 2005 that banned all
soda and other high-energy, low-nutrient foods and beverages in kindergarten
through eighth grade schools that offer
meals through the National School Lunch
Program.36 High schools can also participate in the ban on a voluntary basis. This
bill went into effect during the 2006-2007
academic year.
Student journalists may be setting agendas for their peers related to the nutritional value of items in school vending
machines and cafeterias. Beyond the
frequent mention of discretionary calorie items, such as soda and “junk foods,”
student journalists also wrote about the
importance of food choices. Overall, 37%
of articles were coded as adequate nutrients within calorie needs (eg, choose
foods that limit the intake of saturated
and trans fat). In articles categorized as
food groups to encourage, students specifically noted that schools should offer
more low-energy fruits and vegetables
with meals.
Even though almost one half of the articles related to physical activity, few noted
the significant lack of exercise or physical
activity among adolescents or within high
schools. Instead, most articles reviewed
various types of physical activity (eg, yoga
for flexibility). These results indicate that
student journalists may not be aware that
school-based foci on physical education
have been waning for years. According
to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, only 29% of high school students attend daily physical education
classes, compared with 15 years ago
when 42% of high school students did so.
Additionally, 35% of high school students
do not participate regularly in vigorous
physical activity.37
The impact of student newspapers—
or newspapers altogether—on adolescents’ physical activity is not known, but
several studies suggest a positive relationship between the two. For example, Marks et al38 used an Internet-based
physical activity intervention for adolescent girls, in comparison with a printed
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workbook that presented identical information. After exposing the girls to either
medium for 2 weeks, the authors found
that the girls reading the print version of
the intervention had significantly greater
intentions to be physically active and
more self-reported physical activity than
did girls using the Internet version of the
intervention.
More than one third (37%) of newspaper articles that mentioned foods and
beverages referred to MyPyramid’s milk
group, showing that students did not prioritize inadequate calcium intakes as
much as other newsworthy topics. Our
data do not allow us determine why
this is so, but one reason could be the
ambitious “milk mustache” campaign
of the National Fluid Milk Processor
Promotion Board. During the time frame
of data collection, the milk mustache
campaign was aggressively reaching out
to 13- to 19-year-olds to promote intake
of dairy products.39 With a strong media
focus on dairy products already in place,
student journalists may not have considered milk or other sources of dietary
calcium as being as newsworthy as physical activity or carbohydrates. Despite student journalists’ lack of attention to dairy
products however, most adolescents do
not consume the recommended amount
of calcium through dairy products or
other vegetable sources thereby limiting
their potential peak bone mass.40 This
information should be shared with adolescents, either by high school newspapers or other media.
Miscommunication, inaccurate reporting, and sensationalism of health-related
topics are commonly found in newspaper
reporting.41 For example, Caspermeyer
et al42 assessed the accuracy of the New
York Times and 8 regional newspapers
on topics related to neurological diseases.
Their data showed that 20% of sample
stories contained medical errors or exaggerations. A tendency for inadequate
health reporting can be found among
professionally trained journalists as well.
For example, Voss43 reported that 25% of
Midwestern journalists (n = 115) reported
they were not at all or only somewhat
confident in their ability to report health
news. Additionally, 40% of her sample
vol. 4 • no. 2
members agreed that most health reporters lack requisite training to cover their
beat. A comparably high percentage
(15%) of articles written by student journalists in our study contained false information. Errors in students’ writings can
be explained by their lack of formal education as science writers. However, it
is important for them to be trained in
responsible reporting at their nascent
stage of development as journalists.
Unlike Malone et al17 and Freeman
et al21—whose newspaper databases
were derived from school representatives
hand-selecting previously published articles or newspaper issues—we had complete sets of newspaper issues from all
participating schools for our review. We
could have increased the sample of high
schools by including the 9 additional
schools that sent incomplete volumes
of their 2003-2004 newspapers, but we
felt doing so would be a threat to internal validity. All the same, our sample of
newspaper articles for the content analysis was larger than that of Freeman et al21
who reviewed just 40 advertisements on
UV tanning parlors in their study.
However, there were some limitations
to this study. For example, we cannot
conclude that our data are representative
of all high schools in the United States
because our content analysis included
218 newspaper issues. However, our
data set did comprise complete sets of
newspaper issues from rural and urban
high schools from all regions of Arizona.
Also, because universal participation of
Arizona schools could not be achieved
despite consistent incentives offered to
schools, we gathered a convenience sample rather than a fully randomized sample of schools.
Our data show that nutrition- and
physical activity–related health topics are newsworthy to student journalists. However, further research is needed
to determine how much of an impact,
if any, high school newspapers have on
peer students’ knowledge, attitudes, and
behaviors related to nutrition, physical activity, and other health topics. Additionally,
further research could compare health outcomes of the traditional paper medium
ICAN: Infant, Child, & Adolescent Nutrition
of high school newspapers against the
growing popularity of Internet-based student newspapers.
11.
Author Note
This project was supported by the
Cooperative State Research, Education,
and Extension Service of the US
Department of Agriculture (contract no.
03-35200-13445, J. S. Hampl, Principal
Investigator; D. M. Winham, Co -Principal
Investigator).
12.
13.
14.
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