Social Support Is a Primary Influence on Home Fruit, 100% Juice, and Vegetable Availability

Abstract

Children tend to eat more fruit and vegetables when more are available in the home. We proposed and tested a model that predicts the availability at home (hereinafter termed "home availability") of fruit, 100% juice, and vegetables, using new measures of frequency of food shopping, purchase, and comparative purchase outcome expectancies (ie, the perceived benefits and costs of purchasing fruit and vegetables), home food pantry management practices, family social support for purchasing fruit and vegetables, food shopping practices, and body mass index (BMI). Participants (N=98) were recruited in 2004 in front of grocery stores and completed two telephone interviews. Cross-sectional hierarchical regression was employed with backward deletion of nonsignificant variables. Despite many statistically significant bivariate correlations between the new variables and home fruit, 100% juice, and vegetable availability, social support was the primary predictor of home fruit availability in multivariate regression. BMI and home 100% juice pantry management were the primary predictors of home 100% juice availability. Social support, BMI, and shopping practices were the primary predictors of home vegetable availability. Social support for purchasing fruit, 100% juice, and vegetables was an important, consistent predictor of home availability. These findings need to be replicated in larger samples.Consuming fruit, 100% juice, and vegetables has many positive health outcomes (1). Children tend to eat more fruit, 100% juice, and vegetables when they are available in the home (2). Little is known, however, about factors influencing home availability of these foods. Enabling adult food shoppers (with children at home) to purchase more fruit, 100% juice, and vegetables should increase home availability, and thereby children's consumption. Qualitative research suggested a variety of factors may influence the purchase of fruit, 100% juice, and vegetables and thereby increase their availability in the home, including: frequency of food shopping (3); purchase and comparative purchase (eg, such as fresh vs other); fruit, 100% juice, and vegetable outcome expectancies (ie, the perceived benefits and costs of purchasing fruit, 100% juice, and vegetables) (4); home food pantry management practices (5); family social support for purchasing (6); and food shopping practices (7). The Figure provides a conceptual model of how these variables could logically be interrelated.Based on participant statements in qualitative interviews about home food practices, items were generated for corresponding scales. In subsequent quantitative research, the psychometric characteristics were assessed and validated against measures of home fruit, 100% juice, and vegetable availability (4-7). A relatively new psychometric procedure, Item Response Modeling, assessed how the items distributed across a latent variable and thereby covered the distribution of all participants. All scales correlated with home fruit, 100% juice, and vegetable availability, even...

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