University Student Attitudes Toward Organic Foods - Organic Food and Agriculture: New Trends and Developments in the Social Sciences - page 94

3. General Information
3.1 Demographics
Seventeen point five percent of the students participating in the research are males while
82.5% are females. Seventeen point three percent of the students are from the Department of
Nutrition and Dietetics, 26.9% from Midwifery, 24.7% from Nursery, 16.7% from Social
Services, 14.4% from Health Services Management. Thirty two point eight percent of the
students are freshmen, 32.9% sophomores, 24.7% juniors and 9.7% seniors. Forty nine point
six percent of the students stay in the dormitories while 30.3% share home with their
friends, 17.6% stay with their families and 2.5% live alone or with relatives.
3.2 Organic food consumption
When asked whether they make shopping for the household, 51.6% of the students
answered “sometimes”, 46.1% “always” and 2.3% “never”. Fifty seven point four percent of
the students stated that they eat organic food. Those who do not consume organic food gave
the reasons that they cannot find the products everywhere (45.7%), the products are
expensive (38.7%), they do not have the need for these products (15.7%). Fifty six percent of
the students which claimed to eat organic food consumes these products occasionally, while
25.1% of them answered “frequently”, 16.0% “rarely” and 2.9% “always”. They completed
the statement “If I could not find organic food at the store I go for shopping…” and 42.7% of
the answers are “I would buy non-organic foods”, 25.9% are “I would buy another similar
organic food”, 15.6% are both “I would go to another store that I possibly could find” and “I
would postpone shopping”. The statement “If the prices between organic foods and
traditional foods are similar…”, asked to determine the effect of the prices on students'
preferences, is mostly (52.3%) answered with “I would buy as much organic food as I can”.
Twenty eight point four percent of the answers are “I would do whatever I am doing
currently” while 19.3% are “I would buy more organic food than I do currently”.
3.3 Attitudes towards organic foods
In Table 1 the students' answers to the statements regarding organic foods are shown in
percent values. Although most of the students think that organic foods have better quality
and are free of any unhealthy effects, they have shown ambivalence (46, 48, 55) or
disagreement (29, 36, 38, 42, 49, 59) to certain statements. Among the positive statements
presented, the one which has been disagreed most (55.3%) is “I would buy organic foods as I
see many benefits in them (for environment, health and animal rights)”. Those who strongly
agree with the statement “I feel healthy when I eat organic foods” are the fewest (2.2%).
Nevertheless, the students show disagreement to all of the negative statements regarding
organic foods. Most of the students participating in the research have correct knowledge
about the production of the foods (that they do not contain additives,
preservatives/artificial flavors, are not treated with hormones or antibiotics, and are not
genetically modified). They mostly answer “I agree” to the statements in this section.
Although they find organic foods more expensive, the rate of those who think that more
agricultural land and more space in the groceries should be given to organic foods and of
those who would be glad to consume more organic food is higher. According to the
statements given in the section in which organic foods are compared with traditional foods,
the students find organic foods more reliable in terms of taste, nutrition, health, quality,
safety and against the risk of illnesses. Except for the statement “Organic foods reduce soil
contamination”, the students mostly answered “I agree” to the statements related to organic
foods and chemical usage.