Informal and Formal Social Integration Shape Eating and Drinking of Older Black and White Americans

Abstract

Objective: Health behaviors are seen as one possible pathway linking race to health outcomes. Social integration has also been consistently linked to important health outcomes but has not been examined as a mechanism accounting for racial differences in health behaviors among older U.S. adults. Method: We use data from the American’s Changing Lives (ACL) Study to explore racial differences in measures of social integration and whether they help account for racial differences in several dietary behaviors and alcohol use. Results: We find differences by race and social integration measures in dietary behaviors and alcohol use. Net of socioeconomic status, health status, and reported discrimination, variation in social integration helps to account for racial differences in some health behaviors. Discussion: Our results highlight the nuanced role of social integration in understanding group differences in health behaviors. Interventions should consider such complexities when including aspects of social integration in their design.

The Relationship Between Social Integration and Physical Activity, Diet, and Sleep Among Youths: Cross-sectional Survey Study

“…In this sample, time spent with family was related to fruit and vegetable consumption, but time spent with friends was not. Our findings align with those of similar studies in adults, where social integration was found to be a substantial predictor of fruit and vegetable consumption [ 14 ]. Our results suggest that social integration, specifically time with family, appears to be a large predictor of diet behaviors in youths.…”

“…For example, social integration influences PA, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, where informal social integration with friends appears to be more predictive of PA than informal social integration with family [ 13 ]. Informal integration also predicts higher fruit and vegetable consumption [ 14 ]. Those who are more socially integrated have higher-quality sleep than those who are less socially integrated [ 15 ].…”

Religious Attendance and Health Behavior in Cross-National Perspective: The Role of Religious Context

“…The relationship between religious attendance and health behavior has been assessed in a number of studies. This line of research demonstrates that religious attendance is negatively associated with alcohol consumption among general population samples (Clarke et al 1990), older adults (Hauschildt and Burgard 2019), and African American men (Bowie et al 2017). In addition, religious attendance is also inversely related to a likelihood of smoking in the general population (Gillum 2005), young adults (Guo and Metcalfe 2019), and Texas adults (Hill et al 2006).…”

“…In terms of physical exercise, religious attendance is associated with higher levels of exercise among adolescents in Czech (Malinakova et al 2018), Hispanic women (Arredondo et al 2005), and older adults (Gillum 2006). Finally, regarding dietary habits, religious attendance is associated with healthier dietary habits among American youth (Wallace and Forman 1998), older adults (Hauschildt and Burgard 2019) and Hispanic women (Arredondo et al 2005). Given that much of this work has been conducted in the U.S., an effort is made in this study to contribute to the literature by examining the association between religious attendance and health behavior cross-nationally.…”

“…Prior studies have linked religious involvement with a broad range of behavioral health outcomes, including smoking, drinking, dietary behavior, and exercise (Boyd and Wilcox 2020;Guo and Metcalfe 2019;Hauschildt and Burgard. 2019;Hill et al 2006).…”