Time for change? Food choices in the transition to cohabitation and parenthood

Abstract

Objective: We compared the dietary behaviour of three different household types and explored developmental trends in food choices following a life event. Design: The study is based on data from three Swiss Food Panel survey periods. A cross-sectional comparison between household types was conducted by using a one-way independent ANOVA. Repeated measures were analysed with a mixed ANCOVA to examine changes in dietary behaviour following a life event. Setting: Participants in the survey filled in a questionnaire in the years 2010, 2011 and 2012. Subjects: The final sample consisted of 3559 persons with a mean age of 56 years (range 22-94 years; 46 % men). Seventy-two people moved in with their partner and sixty-five people reported the birth of their first child. Results: Cross-sectional evidence confirmed that women living in households with a partner reported higher consumption frequencies for meat and processed meats compared with those living alone. Men living in cohabitation had a higher vegetable intake. The transitional effect of moving in with a partner, however, resulted in a higher intake of processed meats for both genders and a higher intake of pork and savoury items for men. Transition to motherhood was linked to an increase in vegetable consumption, while the transition to fatherhood did not change consumption patterns significantly. Conclusions: Individuals in life-stage transitions are more likely to change their nutritional strategies and life events can be a window of opportunity for changes towards better food choices. Keywords Moving in Marriage Life events HouseholdSocial influences and interactions embedded in our domestic environment seem to play an important and critical role in the development and regulation of our eating behaviour (1) . Efforts to implement changes in our daily eating routines fail not least because the domestic environment, which often remains constant over long periods, can trigger disadvantageous eating habits. Therefore, it is especially interesting to investigate special periods in a person's life that might be associated with adopting new eating patterns. To gain insights into the individual's dietary behavioural development over time and to detect factors triggering change, previous research has focused on special periods marked by major events in a person's life. Special life events such as childbearing, starting to cohabit with a partner or leaving home are powerful determinants of rapid changes in a person's domestic environment. They indicate transitions from one life stage to another, and are accompanied by the acquisition of new social roles and changes in family status and living environments (2,3) . These new life circumstances require behavioural adaptations in general, lead to changes in consumer behaviour in particular (4,5) and might also be linked to the acquisition of new nutritional strategies.

Cooking together: The IKEA effect on family vegetable intake

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“…It is likely that other factors like parental modelling or teaching responsibilities are relevant in cooking activities with children when compared to a situation of cooking alone. This is in line with findings that show that the transition to parenthood among women is related to an increase in vegetable intake (Hartmann, Dohle, & Siegrist, 2014) that might be linked to efforts to model healthy eating. Thus, it seems that parents Figure 1.…”

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