Sammendrag
OBJECTIVES
Fruit and vegetable intake (FVI) is below recommended levels among adolescents in the U.S., especially among low-income populations and minorities at higher risk for diet-related disease. The main objective of this study was to explore household, demographic and personal factors related to FVI in a sample of low-income minority adolescents from five schools in Austin, Texas. Secondary objectives were to look for factors related to household access & availability (AA) and to address the implications of a food-gardening related intervention in this sample.
METHODS
Cross-sectional baseline data taken in January 2009 for the Sprouting Healthy Kids intervention evaluation was analyzed. The sample included 194 primarily low-income, Hispanic parent and student pairs. Parent and student questionnaires were compared to identify independent demographic (DFs), household (HFs) and personal factors (PFs) of FVI in students. Social Cognitive Theory and the Social Ecological Model formed the basis of the theoretical framework for this study. Predictive Analytic SoftWare Statistics (SPSS) Version 18 was used to perform bivariate analysis and multiple linear regression.
RESULTS
Mean FVI for both the student and parent sample was below recommendations. A large percent of the variance in student FVI was explained by the HFs. The model that explained the greatest variance in FVI (AR2=.33, p<.001) included a combination of DFs, HFs and PFs. Among factors in all models, household AA and parent FVI had the strongest association with student FVI. These relationships remained strong when adjusted for PFs. None of the PFs measured had a significant association with student FVI once adjusted for HFs & DFs. Students who had more experience growing food, liked cooking FV, and whose family ate homegrown FV more often had a higher FVI, but this may be confounded by other factors. Several HFs, including adult support and experience growing FV had a moderate, unadjusted correlation with Household AA in this sample.
CONCLUSION
Findings from this study support other studies which have found household AA and parent FVI to be highly associated with young persons’ FVI. Since no causal relationships can be determined with this study design, future research that includes qualitative focus groups and longitudinal methods is warranted. Current interventions targeted towards parents and FV AA in the household should be evaluated for effectiveness and increased. Food gardening may indeed be an effective method to increase FVI in students and parents in this sample, however more research is needed to determine whether this method is well-received by the target population (low-income Hispanics).