Danielle Venn

Your money or your time? How both types of scarcity matter to physical activity and healthy eating

RATIONALE Lack of time is one of the most common reasons people give for not exercising or eating healthy food, yet few studies explicitly test its relationship with health behaviours. OBJECTIVE Conceptualising time as a social determinant we estimate how scarcity - of income or time - generate barriers to health behaviours. METHODS Using longitudinal, nationally-representative survey data on Australians aged 25-54 years, our design addresses endogeneity and reverse causation by considering how new episodes of scarcity are related to changes in healthy eating and physical activity. Regression models estimated how scarcity of income (low income or feeling poor) or time (heavy time commitments or feeling rushed for time) predicted change over two consecutive years. RESULTS We find that both income and time scarcity reduce physical activity and, in some cases, lead people to consume less fruit and vegetables, eat out more and eat more discretionary calories (food high in salt, sugar or fat). Further, income and time scarcity operate independently to constrain healthy choices, although for more than one in ten people they synergistically increase risk. CONCLUSION Because income and time scarcity are patterned by socio-economic status and gender, our results underline the need to address both if public health interventions are to be more effective and fair.

Australia's evolving food practices: a risky mix of continuity and change.

OBJECTIVE To investigate trends in five key aspects of Australian food practice which have been implicated in diet-related health risks, specifically energy intake. They are: the replacement of home-prepared foods by commercially prepared foods; consumer reliance on ultra-processed foods; de-structured dining; increased pace of eating; and a decline in commensal eating. DESIGN Data were from repeated cross-sections from the national Household Expenditure and Time Use Surveys. Trends in food practice aspects were examined using indicators of food expenditure across different food groups and time spent eating and cooking, including where, when and with whom eating activities took place. SETTING Australia, 1989-2010. SUBJECTS Nationally representative samples of Australian households. RESULTS The share of the total food budget spent on food away from home rose steadily from 22·8 % in 1989 to 26·5 % in 2010, while spending on ultra-processed foods increased. The basic patterning of meals and the pace of eating changed little, although people spent more time eating alone and at restaurants. Cooking time declined considerably, particularly for women. CONCLUSIONS These changes have occurred over the same time that obesity and diet-related, non-communicable diseases have increased rapidly in Australia. Some aspects are implicated more than others: particularly the shift from domestic cooking to use of pre-prepared and ultra-processed foods, a reduction in time spent in food preparation and cooking, as well as an upsurge in time and money devoted to eating away from home. These are all likely to operate through the higher energy content of commercially prepared, compared with unprocessed or lightly processed, foods.

What explains trends in Australian working-time arrangements in the 2000s?

ABSTRACT The 1980s and 1990s witnessed a deterioration in working-time arrangements for employees in Australia, driven by globalisation, demographic and structural change and labour market deregulation. Yet, working-time arrangements in the first decade of the 2000s have either improved for employees or stayed relatively unchanged despite continued global pressures and further reforms of domestic labour law. Fewer employees are working long hours or at antisocial times, hours variability has fallen and employee control over working time has increased. This paper attempts to explain the apparent levelling out of previous downward working time trends using data from the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. Decomposition analysis shows that the improvement in working-time arrangements can be partly attributed to an increase in the skill level and earnings potential of the workforce and a general improvement in economic conditions. We show that the Fair Work industrial relations reforms of 2009 may have also contributed to the overall improvement in working-time arrangements, but this was partially offset by the negative effects of the global financial crisis.