Carol M. Devine

Time scarcity and food choices: An overview

Time scarcity, the feeling of not having enough time, has been implicated in changes in food consumption patterns such as a decrease in food preparation at home, an increase in the consumption of fast foods, a decrease in family meals, and an increase in the consumption of convenience or ready-prepared foods. These food choices are associated with less healthful diets and may contribute to obesity and chronic health problems such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. In spite of the potential importance for health, there has been little study of how time scarcity influences peoples food choices. This paper presents an overview of time issues related to food choices and discuss applications of time research for nutrition and health researchers, policy makers, and practitioners interested in food choice.

Managing values in personal food systems

People in post-industrial societies are faced with many food products and diverse eating situations that can make food-choice decisions complex. This study examined the ways that people managed values in making food choices in various contexts. An analysis of 86 semi-structured, in-depth qualitative interviews from a diverse population of urban adults living in upstate New York revealed that all participants used a personal food system, which was a dynamic set of processes constructed to enact food choices. Within these personal food systems people managed the five main food-related values of taste, health, cost, time and social relationships, and other less prominent values of symbolism, ethics, variety, safety, waste and quality. The salience of these values varied among the participants as well as across the eating situations that confronted each participant. Participants used three main processes in their personal food systems: (i) categorizing foods and eating situations; (ii) prioritizing conflicting values for specific eating situations; and (iii) balancing prioritizations across personally defined time frames. Understanding the personal food systems people use to help them make food choices can be useful for developing theories about eating behavior and communicating health messages related to food and eating.

Life-Course Influences on Fruit and Vegetable Trajectories: Qualitative Analysis of Food Choices

Abstract Food consumption plays an important role in health, and understanding the process of food choice is central to health promotion. A persons life-course transitions and trajectories (persistent thoughts, feelings, strategies, and actions over the lifespan) are fundamental influences on the development of his or her personal system for making food choices. This analysis used a life-course perspective to examine influences on the fruit and vegetable choices of adults. A purposive, multi-ethnic sample of 86 adults in one U.S. city participated in semi-structured in-depth interviews about their life course, food choices, and influences on fruit and vegetable consumption. Qualitative analysis of interview transcripts, using a grounded theory approach based on the constant comparative method, revealed that past life-course events and experiences were strong influences on present systems for fruit and vegetable choices. Life-course transitions, especially role changes and health events, placed people on relatively stable dietary trajectories that shaped current food choices. Most people experienced a few major transitions that influenced their fruit and vegetable choices, some being abrupt and some more gradual changes in their trajectories. A life-course model of a food choice trajectory was developed from the data to reflect how past events and experiences were operationalized in present contexts to shape food choices. Key influences on the trajectory included food upbringing, roles, health, ethnic traditions, resources, location, and the food system. A life-course perspective on food choice provides unique insights that reveal how past events interact with current environments to both enable and limit current health behaviors such as food choices.

A Life Course Perspective: Understanding Food Choices in Time, Social Location, and History

A life course perspective provides a framework for understanding how food choices develop in changing temporal, social, and historical contexts. This article describes the application of life course concepts to food choices, including trajectories, transitions, turning points, lives in place and time, and timing of events in lives. A life course approach to food choice can contribute to understanding the social and biological pathways of health risk and resilience over the life span. Life course analysis is a useful research and practice tool because of the many ways in which foods, the individuals choosing them, and food choice environments are changing.

Life-Course Events and Experiences: Association with Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in 3 Ethnic Groups

OBJECTIVE To examine how life-course experiences and events are associated with current fruit and vegetable consumption in 3 ethnic groups. DESIGN A theoretic model developed from previous qualitative research guided the development of a telephone survey. Data were collected on fruit and vegetable consumption, sociodemographic characteristics, ethnic identity, and life-course events and experiences, including food upbringing, social roles, food skills, dietary changes for health, and practice of food traditions. SUBJECTS/SETTING Low- to moderate-income adults living in a northeastern US city were selected randomly from 3 ethnic groups: black (n = 201), Hispanic (n = 191), and white (n = 200). STATISTICAL ANALYSES Bivariate and multiple linear regression analysis of associations between life-course variables and fruit and vegetable consumption. RESULTS Black, Hispanic, and white respondents differed significantly in life-course experiences, family roles, socio-demographic characteristics, and place of birth. Explanatory models for fruit and vegetable consumption differed among ethnic groups and between fruits and vegetables. Among black respondents, a college education was positively associated with fruit consumption; education and family roles contributed most to differences in fruit (R2 = .16) and vegetable (R2 = .09) consumption. Among Hispanic respondents, life-course experiences such as liking fruits and vegetables in youth, making dietary changes for health, and food skills were positively associated with fruit (R2 = .25) and vegetable (R2 = .35) consumption. Among white respondents, socio-demographic characteristics, such as being married with a young child or single with no child and having a garden as an adult, were positively associated with fruit (R2 = .20) and vegetable (R2 = .22) consumption. APPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS An understanding of the determinants of food choice in different subcultural groups can be used to design effective nutrition interventions to increase fruit and vegetable consumption. Experiences such as eating fresh-picked fruits and vegetables while growing up or vegetable gardening as an adult may enhance fruit and vegetable consumption among members of some ethnic groups.

Food Choices in Three Ethnic Groups: Interactions of Ideals, Identities, and Roles

Abstract Ethnicity is one of the many factors that play a role in food choices.This project examined how ethnicity was enacted in food choices among 86 adults in one U.S. city, purposively recruited to vary in ethnic identity (Black, Latino, White). Qualitative research methods were used to conduct semistructured depth interviews about participants’ ethnic identity, food choices, and influences on food consumption. Analysis of these data produced a conceptualization of influences on food choices that spanned the different ethnic groups. Ideals, identities, and roles interacted with each other and the food and eating context in reciprocal and dynamic ways to influence food choice. Differences in ideals, identities, and roles were related to ethnic group affiliation and were most apparent during times of personal transition and in contexts highlighting contrasts. This conceptualization can enhance the ability of nutrition educators working in a multicultural society to identify processes underlying ethnic food choices and apply this understanding to research and practice.

Managing Healthy Eating: Definitions, Classifications, and Strategies

This study sought to enhance understanding of how people conceptualize and manage healthy eating. An interpretivist approach employed the constant comparative method to analyze 79 open-ended interviews with individuals about food choices and eating behaviors for health-related themes. Participant reports depicted cognitive systems for defining healthy eating, where personal meanings evolved through ongoing exposure to a variety of experiential and informational sources. Participants’ definitions of healthy eating clustered around seven themes for relating food and eating to their personal health. Healthy eating definitions shaped how participants categorized food and eating situations as healthy and unhealthy. Participants described healthy eating strategies that were differentially associated with various healthy eating themes. These findings provide an emic perspective of how a diverse sample of adults conceptualize and manage healthy eating. Exposing the implicit and multiplistic nature of healthy eating conceptions provides information useful to health educators promoting behavior changes.

Model of the Process of Adopting Vegetarian Diets: Health Vegetarians and Ethical Vegetarians

Abstract Interest in vegetarian diets is growing due to health and animal welfare concerns. This study examined the experiences of individuals who adopted vegetarian diets as adolescents or adults. Nineteen self-identified adult vegetarians, recruited from a vegetarian group in one city using snowball sampling, participated in qualitative interviews. The majority of respondents were well-educated, middle-class adults of European-American backgrounds, although they varied in age and sex as well as type and duration of vegetarian diet. The constant comparative method was used for analysis of these qualitative data. A process model describing the adoption of vegetarian diets was developed. Two types of vegetarians, health and ethical, were identified based on respondents’ major reasons for adopting a vegetarian diet. Health vegetarians were motivated by a perceived threat of disease and the potential health benefits associated with vegetarian diets. Ethical vegetarians were motivated by moral considerations and viewed a vegetarian diet as a way to align dietary behaviors with beliefs and values about animal welfare. Adoption of a vegetarian diet was influenced by the receipt of information about the health and ethical impacts of vegetarian diets, physical aversions to animal-derived food, and life transitions. These findings can assist nutrition educators in developing strategies to work with clients adopting vegetarian diets and expand understanding of food choice behavior.

Food, eating, and weight concerns of men in recovery from substance addiction

Dysfunctional eating patterns and excessive weight gains have been observed during recovery from drug and alcohol addictions. Yet, little is known about food choice behaviors among substance abusers and the role that food plays in their lives. The purpose of this study was to understand how men at different stages of recovery from substance addictions experienced food and eating, weight changes, and used food in recovery. A purposive, multi-ethnic sample of 25 urban men at different stages of recovery from drug and alcohol addictions participated in qualitative interviews. Data analysis based on the constant comparative method revealed three main themes: excess weight gain, meaningful use of food, and disordered eating and a struggle to eat healthy that differed by recovery stage (early, mid, and later recovery). Men in early recovery described dysfunctional eating practices such as mood and binge eating, the use of food as a substitute for drug use, and the use of food to satisfy cravings. Men in mid to later recovery expressed weight concerns and distress about efforts to lose weight. The findings also suggest that food deprivation in active addiction and interactions between stage of recovery and living environment may contribute to changes in food choice behaviors and to excess weight gains in recovery. These findings highlight behavioral interactions between food and substance abuse and opportunities for nutrition and weight interventions in recovery.

Women's dietary prevention motives: Life stage influences

Abstract Life stage theorists have suggested that concerns for personal health increase after age 40, when adults become aware of their own physical body changes and the illness of their parents. This research was designed to discover, understand and develop hypotheses about the ways in which life stage influences womens motives for preventive dietary behavior. Semi-structured, open-ended interviews were conducted with 39 married women with children. Women at three different life stages were recruited from community groups. Interviews were analyzed using qualitative methods of data analysis. The concluding hypotheses suggest that womens motives for preventive dietary behavior vary with life stage, due to altered perceptions of health status, body weight and social roles. Women with young children at home may be more likely to make dietary changes for family health. The departure of grown children from home allows older women to make dietary changes for personal health. The influence of public information about diet and health on womens dietary behavior may be related to their life stage when they receive the information. Women in younger life stage cohorts may have a different orientation to personal nutrition than women in older cohorts.