Christine Blake, PhD, RD 1, Carol M. Devine, PhD, RD 2, Elaine Wethington, PhD 2, Tracy J. Farrell, 2 Carole A. Bisogni, PhD 2.

1 University of South CarolinaArnold School of Public Health

2 Cornell UniversityDivision of Nutritional Sciences

Funded by: NIH- National Cancer Institute: RO1CA102684: PI: C Devine

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.usca.edu/ie/ie_images/uscalogo1.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.usca.edu/ie/assessment/IEReports/IEReport2002.htm&usg=__byT0IpeGhgV81XYnGpKw5GWsIeU=&h=341&w=300&sz=11&hl=en&start=3&sig2=23adH-oIQ-u7X2V08TR9uw&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=XDuyyIcUdo8eaM:&tbnh=120&tbnw=106&prev=/images%3Fq%3Duniversity%2Bof%2Bsouth%2Bcarolina%2Blogo%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GFRE_en%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=1VUOTOSjKMSAlAeh8blshttp://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://www.msu.edu/~meyerju3/images/Cornell_logo.JPG&imgrefurl=https://www.msu.edu/~meyerju3/Education.html&h=297&w=296&sz=97&tbnid=S0W-ptIDm-69DM:&tbnh=225&tbnw=224&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcornell%2Buniversity%2Blogo&usg=__mZbqAwZUuQ-hotGb3bNup6TANM8=&sa=X&ei=PFcOTPWGGcSBlAfu5aFs&ved=0CBYQ9QEwAQhttp://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://www.msu.edu/~meyerju3/images/Cornell_logo.JPG&imgrefurl=https://www.msu.edu/~meyerju3/Education.html&h=297&w=296&sz=97&tbnid=S0W-ptIDm-69DM:&tbnh=225&tbnw=224&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcornell%2Buniversity%2Blogo&usg=__mZbqAwZUuQ-hotGb3bNup6TANM8=&sa=X&ei=PFcOTPWGGcSBlAfu5aFs&ved=0CBYQ9QEwAQ

The Context: Employed US Parents Most parents in the labor force (BLS, 2009)

96% of two-parent households have at least one employed member 59% are dual earner households

68% of single mothers; 77% of single fathers

Longer family work hours

Dual-earner couples with children work 91 hrs/wk (Bond, 2002)

Less time for household work (Bianchi, 2000)

39% decline in meal preparation time 1965-1995

Associations to work and diet More food and meals away from home

Lower in nutritional quality

Less healthful diets have been associated with low job status poor job conditions high workloads high work demands low control at work

Obesity and weight gain have been associated with long work hours high work demands high job strain.

Food choice coping strategies Behavioral mechanisms through which people actively

conceptualize and manage food selection in response to work and family demands

Used to manage stress and fatigue

reduce meal time and effort

reduce food and eating expectations

weigh food and eating against other family needs

Devine, , Jastran, Jabs, Wethington, Farrell, and Bisogni. Soc Sci & Med, 2006.

Devine, C.M., Farrell, T., Blake, C.E., Jastran, M. Wethington, E., and Bisogni, C.A.

Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 2009; 41(5):365-370.

Blake, C. E., Devine C.M., Wethington E., Jastran M., Farrell T.J., Bisogni C.A. Appetite. 2009; 52(3):711-9.

Family Conditions

Work ConditionsFood Choice

Coping Strategies

Individual Characteristics

DietaryIntake

Family Conditions

Work ConditionsFood Choice

Coping Strategies

Individual Characteristics

Gender

DietaryIntake

2. How are coping strategies associated with individual, work and family conditions?

3. How are coping strategies associated with Dietary intake?

1. What combinations of coping strategies are used by working parents?

Research Questions

Research Design & Methods Pilot telephone interview survey

Random sample (n=56) from low/moderate income zip codes in a Northeast city

89% of reached and eligible completed interview

Day 1 interview Work and family conditions, food choice coping

strategies

Days 2 and 3

24-hour recalls

IRB approved

Food Choice Coping Strategies Twenty-six items measured food choice coping strategies:

1) food at/away from home,

2) missing meals

3) individualizing meals

4) time saving

5) planning.

Developed, cognitively tested, and convergent validity established through formative research (Devine et al., 2006; Devine et al., 2009).

In a separate but similar sample all items met the criterion (p=

Fathers (n=25) Mothers (n=31)

Race/ethnicity % %

White 32 36

African-American 40 36

Other 28 28

Latino ethnicity 32 32

Family Income

Less than $20,000 12 36

$20,000 to $39,999 44 44

$40,000 to $59,999 44 20

Family receives food assistance* 32 64

Education

Some HS or HS graduate 40 24

Some college or graduate 60 76

Married /live as married* 100 40

*gender difference p=

Participants: Low-wage working parents

Long hours

Usually ≥ 45 hours/week 32 40

Overtime often 32 24

Second job 24 8

Non-standard hours/weeks

Hours 28 32

Schedule 48 40

Varied schedule 36 32

Fathers % Mothers %n=25 n=31

Data Analysis Hierarchical cluster analysis used to identify subgroups of

participants based on use of food choice coping strategies Wards method and squared Euclidean distances

3 broad clusters identified

Contingency coefficeint used to test agreement with two other clustering methods confirming stability of the classification

Chi-square and fisher’s exact tests to compare clusters Frequency of using different FCC strategies

Work conditions

Family conditions

ANOVA used to compare mean Healthy Eating Index scores across clusters

Family Conditions

Work ConditionsFood Choice

Coping Strategies

Individual Characteristics

Gender

DietaryIntake

1. What combinations of coping strategies are used by working parents?

Results

Food Choice Coping StrategiesIndividualized

Eating

(n=16)

%

Missing

Meals

(n=20)

%

Home

Cooking

(n=20)

%

In a typical week: >5 of your family’s main meals are home cooked 19 20 90

≥1 of your family’s main meals are from a fast food restaurant 88 95 30

≥ 1 of your family’s main meals are take-out foods 69 80 20

≥ 0.5 of your family’s main meals are at a restaurant 81 55 10

After work you grab something quick to eat at a ff rest or conv. store 63 50 0

Because of your job you miss eating meals with your family 25 90 30

Between work and family you miss eating breakfast † 63 85 50

Because of your job, you miss eating lunch 50 75 15

You overeat later after missing a meal † 38 70 40

On workdays your family’s main meal is something quick to prepare 88 80 85

…includes canned or frozen entrees or boxed mixes 63 85 30

At work, you grab something quick to eat instead of a meal 81 80 50

On work days the children eat first, and adults eat later 50 65 25

…your family watches television during the main meal 69 45 35

… everyone in your family fixes something different for a main meal 81 15 10

You pack a lunch to take to work 88 15 70

You keep food available at work for snacks and meals 81 50 50

Family Conditions

Work ConditionsFood Choice

Coping Strategies

Individual Characteristics

Gender

DietaryIntake

2. How are coping strategies associated with individual, work and family conditions?

Results

Individual Characteristics and

Work, and Family Conditions

Individualized

Eating (n=16)

Missing Meals

(n=20)

Home

Cooking (n=20)

Gender (% female) 69 60 40Race/Ethnicity (%) a

Non-Hispanic White 44 15 35Non-Hispanic Black 25 45 25Hispanic/Latino 31 40 35Education (%)

High school/GED or less 50 25 201-3 years college 30 60 454 year degree or more 20 15 35

Family income < $30,000 (%) 40 70 45Marital Status (%)*

Married - living with spouse 32 35 75Unmarried - living with partner 25 30 5Unmarried- living alone 43 35 20Family Conditions

Spouse/partner works ≥20 hrs/wk (%)** 31 55 15Children in household (mean #)** 1.4 2.0 2.7Work Conditions (%)

Works non-standard hours * 6 35 20Works overtime (≥ 45 hrs/wk) 38 45 20

Age (mean years) 38.3 36.9 36.8

Family Conditions

Work ConditionsFood Choice

Coping Strategies

Individual Characteristics

Gender

DietaryIntake

3. How are coping strategies associated with Dietary intake?

HEI-2005 Category Scores c , d, e, f Individualized

Eating

(n=16)

Missing

Meals

(n=15)

Home

Cooking

(n=19)

Total Fruit 1.91 (1.97) 1.70 (1.90) 2.35 (2.01)

Whole Fruit 1.76 (1.71) .88 (1.75) 2.01 (2.19)

Total Vegetable 2.31 (1.56) 2.77 (1.56) 3.25 (1.32)

Dark green and orange vegetables* .95 (1.15) 1.90 (2.02) 2.77 (1.95)

Total Grains† 4.49 (0.74) 4.16 (1.01) 4.74 (0.49)

Whole Grains† 2.14 (2.25) .86 (1.41) 2.30 (1.80)

Milk** 4.24 (2.33) 3.30 (2.14) 6.34 (2.75)

Meat and Bean 9.31 (1.28) 9.42 (1.67) 9.34 (1.76)

Saturated Fat 5.56 (3.20) 5.27 (3.56) 5.74 (3.59)

Sodium 2.75 (2.04) 3.00 (2.85) 2.95 (2.32)

Solid fat, alcohol, added sugar 10.39 (6.39) 9.56 (6.24) 12.35 (6.44)

Oil 7.73 (3.02) 8.84 (2.45) 6.54 (4.04)

Total -2005 score (of 100) 53.50 (13.73) 51.67 (13.78) 60.64 (13.81)

Conclusions All employed parents are busy, but some appear to be more

successful in managing food and eating than others.

Food choice coping strategies used by these parents were associated with key conditions work schedules

marital status

partner’s employment,

number of children

…that acted in some cases as barriers to healthy dietary intake.

Limitations Pilot study – small sample size

Gender differences in marital status

Our sample: 60% of mothers single

Among U.S. children

Implications Research needs to consider parents’ work and family

contexts along with other socio-demographic and psychosocial characteristics.

Future research to examine the impact of family policies such as flex time and workplace food access on nutrition

These relationships need to be studied further in a larger population