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Individual and environmental correlates of dietary fat intake in rural communities: A structural equation model analysis

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Abstract

Total dietary fat and saturated fat intake are associated with obesity, elevated cholesterol, and heart disease. This study tested a multi-group structural equation model to explore differences in the relative influence of individual, social, and physical environment factors on dietary fat intake amongst adults aged 40–70 years. Participants from four rural Georgia, U.S., counties (n = 527) completed a cross-sectional survey that included questions about eating patterns and individual and social influences on healthy eating. Observational measures of nutrition environments in stores and restaurants in these counties also were completed. Models for both women and men found significant positive relationships between self-efficacy for healthy eating and perceived nutrition environments and family support for healthy eating. The association between self-efficacy for eating a low-fat diet and frequency of eating out and grocery shopping was negative for both genders. The home nutrition environment was associated with dietary fat intake for women but not men. The results indicate that the influence of individual and environmental factors on dietary fat intake differs for men and women, with the home environment playing a larger role for women in rural communities.

Section snippets

Design

This analysis used baseline survey data from the Healthy Rural Communities 2 (HRC2) study, supplemented by observational measures of neighborhood food environments. HRC2 is a longitudinal descriptive study of the environmental and individual determinants of these behaviors. For the present analysis, HRC2 survey data were linked by participant addresses to restaurant and food store addresses that were geocoded using ArcMap 9.2 to assess distance between points (“as the crow flies”) (ESRI, 2006,

Healthy rural communities 2 participant characteristics

Of all 750 individuals screened, 79.3% were eligible, and 88.6% of eligible persons completed the survey. Table 1 shows baseline background characteristics of participants (n = 527). Just over half of participants in the sample were White (50.5%) and female (53.9%). Nearly half of the participants were aged 39–49 years (47.2%), and the mean age was 51.1 years. Most participants resided in small towns (51.8%) and were married or living with a partner (63.0%), had at least some college education

Discussion

This study examined the potential of a social ecological model to explain dietary fat intake in a rural population. Results support that multiple levels of influence are operating to explain dietary fat intake for people living in a rural community. The overall model predicted dietary fat intake well, suggesting that dietary fat intake is influenced by a complex interplay of individual, social and environmental factors. In addition, these relationships were found to be stronger for women than

Acknowledgements

Funding for this research was provided through cooperative agreement #U48 DP 000043 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the EmoryPrevention Research Center (EPRC). Partial support for Karen Glanz’s effort came from a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar Award. The authors acknowledge the contributions of the EPRC’s Community Advisory Board to the design and conduct of this research and the Southwest Georgia Cancer Coalition for coordinating data collection.

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