Associations between Perceived Family Meal Environment and Parent Intake of Fruit,Vegetables, and Fat

Objective To describe the family mealtime environment and assess associations with adult fruit, vegetable, and fat intake. Design Telephone survey. Participants A convenience sample of 277 adults in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area were recruited through 4 schools. The sample was 85% female and 70% married. The mean number of children in the household was 2.6 (range 1 to 9). Variables Measured Adult fruit and vegetable intake, fat intake, and perceptions of the mealtime environment. Analysis Descriptive and mixed-model linear regression. Results Participants reported that the television was frequently on during dinner meals and almost one third felt that their family was too busy to eat dinner together. A higher frequency of television viewing during dinner was associated with lower fruit and vegetable consumption and higher fat consumption. Planning meals in advance was associated with higher fruit and vegetable consumption; however, 46% of the adults did not plan meals in advance. Arguments concerning eating behavior during dinner were associated with higher fat consumption. Conclusion and Implications The family meal environment is associated with adult eating patterns and should be considered when designing nutrition messages for families

Perceptions of the Family Mealtime Environment and Adolescent Mealtime Behavior: Do Adults and Adolescents Agree?

The family mealtime environment has great potential to affect the eating behaviors of youth in the family. It is difficult to determine the important elements of a healthy mealtime environment because a valid assessment of the family environment is so difficult to obtain. The objective of this study is to examine the level of agreement between adult and adolescent perceptions of the family mealtime environment and adolescent mealtime behavior. A telephone survey was used to query adult and adolescent family members about how they perceive the family mealtime environment and the adolescent\u27s mealtime behavior. A convenience sample of 282 adult/adolescent pairs from four schools in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area completed the telephone surveys. Frequencies of responses and the associations between the adult and adolescent responses are presented. Pearson correlations and regression were used to examine the level of association between adult and adolescent responses. Mixed-model regression was used for the continuous variables, and mixed-model logistic regression was used for the dichotomous variables. This study showed very little concordance between adolescent and adult responses. Only one question regarding arguments about eating during mealtime showed concordance. Adults and adolescents living in the same household seem to have different perceptions of the family mealtime environment and adolescent eating patterns. Researchers need to be aware of and concerned with the validity of the use of self-report for descriptions of family mealtime. They also need to be aware of the difference in adult and adolescent perceptions and consider these differences when designing messages for the family

Small Food Store Retailers’ Willingness to Implement Healthy Store Strategies in Rural North Carolina

Access to supermarkets is lacking in many rural areas. Small food stores are often available, but typically lack healthy food items such as fresh produce. We assessed small food store retailer willingness to implement 12 healthy store strategies to increase the availability, display, and promotion of healthy foods and decrease the availability, display, and promotion of tobacco products. Interviews were conducted with 55 small food store retailers in three rural North Carolina counties concurrently with store observations assessing current practices related to the strategies. All stores sold low-calorie beverages, sugar-sweetened beverages, candy and cigarettes. Nearly all sold smokeless tobacco and cigars/cigarillos, and 72% sold e-cigarettes. Fresh fruits were sold at 30.2% of stores; only 9.4% sold fresh vegetables. Retailers reported being most willing to stock skim/low-fat milk, display healthy snacks near the register, and stock whole wheat bread. About 50% were willing to stock at least three fresh fruits and three fresh vegetables, however only 2% of stores currently stocked these foods. Nearly all retailers expressed unwillingness to reduce the availability of tobacco products or marketing. Our results show promise for working with retailers in rural settings to increase healthy food availability in small food stores. However, restrictions on retail tobacco sales and marketing may be more feasible through local tobacco control ordinances, or could be included with healthy foods ordinances that require stores to stock a minimum amount of healthy foods

Are Differences in Exposure to a Multicomponent School-Based Intervention Associated With Varying Dietary Outcomes in Adolescents?

Multicomponent interventions are recommended for health behavior change among adolescents. However, it is difficult to disentangle the effects of multiple intervention components. This article reports outcomes associated with varying levels of exposure to a school-based nutrition intervention, Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at School (TEENS). Four incremental exposureswere possible: (1) control group, (2) school environment interventions only, (3) classroom plus environment interventions, and (4) peer leaders plus classroom plus environment interventions. Patterns suggesting dose response were observed, with peer leaders reporting the largest increases in fruit, vegetable, and lower fat food consumption. Students exposed to classroom plus environment interventions also improved, whereas students exposed only to school environment interventions showed trends toward choosing lower fat foods and declining fruit intake and no change in vegetable intake. Control students’ choices remained stable. Future studies may investigate mechanisms for peer leaders’ changes, maximizing curriculum effectiveness, and improving environmental interventions

Sociodemographic Disparities in Proximity of Schools to Tobacco Outlets and Fast-Food Restaurants

Objectives. To examine the association of school sociodemographic characteristics with tobacco outlet and fast-food restaurant availability near schools in a national study

Predictors of Violent Behavior in an Early Adolescent Cohort: Similarities and Differences Across Genders

The authors assessed a cohort of 2,335 students from the Minneapolis, Minnesota, area to identify predictors of violent behavior and to determine whether the predictors varied by gender. The sample was 76% White; boys and girls were equally represented. The majority lived with two parents. A measure of violent behavior collected at the end of the eighth-grade year (2000) was entered into Poisson regression against baseline data collected at the beginning of the seventh-grade year (1998). Predictors of violent behavior influencing both boys and girls included depressive symptoms, perceived invulnerability to negative future events, paternal nonauthoritative behavior, and drinking alcohol. Additional predictors of violent behavior specific to girls included both risk and protective factors

Socioeconomic inequalities in children’s diet: the role of the home food environment

Abstract Background It is well documented in the literature that low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with lower consumption of healthy foods and that these differences in consumption patterns are influenced by neighborhood food environments. Less understood is the role that SES differences in physical and social aspects of the home food environment play in consumption patterns. Methods Using data on 4th grade children from the 2009–2011 Texas School Physical Activity and Nutrition (SPAN) study, we used mixed-effects regression models to test the magnitude of differences in the SPAN Health Eating Index (SHEI) by parental education as an indicator of SES, and the extent to which adjusting for measures of the home food environment, and measures of the neighborhood environment accounted for these SES differences. Results Small but significant differences in children’s SHEI by SES strata exist (-1.33 between highest and lowest SES categories, p<0.01). However, incorporating home food environment and neighborhood environment measures in this model eliminates these differences (-0.7, p=0.145). Home food environment explains a greater portion of the difference. Both social (mealtime structure) and physical aspects (food availability) of the home food environment are strongly associated with consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods. Conclusions Our findings suggest that modifiable parent behaviors at home can improve children’s eating habits and that the neighborhood may impact diet in ways other than through access to healthy food

Psychosocial Correlates of Physical Activity and Sedentary Leisure Habits in Young Adolescents: The Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at School Study

BACKGROUND: Low levels of physical activity (PA) and highly sedentary leisure habits (SLH) in youth may establish behavioral patterns that will predispose youth to increased chronic disease risk in adulthood. The purpose of this paper was to examine associations of demographic and psychosocial factors with self-reported PA and SLH in young adolescents. METHODS: A general linear mixed model predicted self-reported PA and SLH in the spring from demographic and psychosocial variables measured the previous fall in 3798 seventh grade students. RESULTS: PA and SLH differed by race, with Caucasian students reporting among the highest PA and lowest SLH. Perceptions of higher academic rank or expectations predicted higher PA and lower SLH. Depressive symptomatology predicted higher SLH scores but not PA. Higher self-reported value of health, appearance, and achievement predicted higher PA and lower SLH in girls. Girls who reported that their mothers had an authoritative parenting style also reported higher PA and lower SLH. CONCLUSIONS: Determinants of PA and SLH appear to differ from each other, particularly in boys. Development of effective programs to increase PA and/or decrease SLH in young adolescents should be based on a clear understanding of the determinants of these behaviors

A Theater-Based Approach to Primary Prevention of Sexual Behavior for Early Adolescents

This article compares four mixed-model analyses valid for group-randomized trials (GRTs) involving a nested cohort design with a single pretest and posttest. This study makes estimates of intraclass correlations (ICCs) available to investigators planning GRTs addressing dietary outcomes. It also provides formulae demonstrating the potential benefits to the standard error of the intervention effect (σΔ) from adjustments for both fixed and time-varying covariates and correlations over time. These estimates will allow other researchers using these variables to plan their studies by estimating a priori detectable differences and sample size requirements for any of the four analytic options. These methods are demonstrated using data from the Teens Eating for Energy and Nutrition at School study. Mixed-model analyses of covariance proved to be the most powerful analysis in that data set. The formulae may be applied to any dependent variable in any GRT given corresponding information for those variables on the parameters that define the formulae

School functioning and violent behavior among young adolescents: a contextual analysis

This paper examines associations between overall school functioning and the frequency of violent behaviors among young adolescents (ages 10–14). The sample included 16 middle schools participating in an unrelated intervention study (on nutrition) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A School Functioning Index developed to characterize schools’ overall stability, performance, and demographics was constructed using data from public archives and school administrator surveys. Data on violent behaviors and other variables were collected in student surveys in fall 1998 and spring 1999. We used multilevel modeling to assess the effect of school functioning on violent behavior after adjusting for known individual-level covariates of violent behaviors. We found an interaction between school functioning (group-level variable) and expectations for future education (individual-level variable). Among students who reported expectations of completing a college degree (71% of the sample), positive school functioning was negatively associated with violent behaviors. Among students that reported expectations of completing less than a college degree, no association was found between school functioning and violent behaviors. These results support earlier work suggesting that objectively measured school characteristics are associated with students’ violent behaviors even after accounting for individual-level factors and also identify a subgroup of students for whom school detachment may be an issue