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Educational attainment, perceived control and the quality of women's diets

Educational attainment, perceived control and the quality of women's diets
Educational attainment, perceived control and the quality of women's diets
Objective: data from the Southampton Women's Survey have established that women of lower educational attainment have poorer quality diets than those of higher educational attainment. This relationship is strong and graded such that for every increase in level of educational qualification, there is an increase in the likelihood that a woman will have a better quality diet. It is not wholly explained by socio-economic status. Qualitative research carried out in Southampton suggests that women of lower educational attainment may have a poorer diet because they feel they lack control over the food choices they make for themselves and their families. We set out to investigate the relationship between educational attainment, perceived control and quality of diet in a sample of women from Southampton. Design: cross-sectional study using structured interviews in which women's diet, educational attainment and perceived control were assessed. Setting: 19 Children's Centres and baby clinics in Southampton, UK. Participants: 372 women, median age 28 years. Main outcome measures: quality of diet assessed by prudent diet score produced from principal components analysis of 20-item food frequency questionnaire, and perceived control assessed by a validated questionnaire. Results: Women of lower educational attainment tended to have lower prudent diet scores and lower perceived control scores than women of higher educational attainment. Having a lower prudent diet score was associated with consuming fewer vegetables and vegetable dishes, less wholemeal bread and vegetarian food, and more chips and roast potatoes, meat pies, Yorkshire puddings and pancakes, crisps and snacks, white bread and added sugar. In a regression model both lower educational attainment and lower perceived control were associated with lower prudent diet scores, independent of the effects of confounding factors. However there was an interaction effect such that lower perceived control was only related to prudent diet score in the group of women of lower educational attainment. Conclusion: Women of lower educational attainment perceive themselves to have less control over their lives than women of higher educational attainment, and this perceived lack of control is reflected in their diets being of poorer quality. Our findings suggest that level of perceived control over life is a more important predictor of quality of diet in women of lower educational attainment than in those of higher educational attainment. It may be that psychological and social difficulties disproportionately affect the diets of women of lower educational attainment. We are currently exploring variations in quality of diet among women of lower educational attainment in relation to a range of psychological and social factors
food choice, perceived control, educational attainment, disadvantage, women's health
0195-6663
631-636
Barker, Mary
374310ad-d308-44af-b6da-515bf5d2d6d2
Lawrence, Wendy
e9babc0a-02c9-41df-a289-7b18f17bf7d8
Crozier, Sarah
a9c88016-8f46-4659-954e-4d7af8a49594
Robinson, Siân
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b
Baird, Janis
f4bf2039-6118-436f-ab69-df8b4d17f824
Margetts, Barrie
3fb8c676-7baf-4e1c-a07f-a2d7700958c5
Cooper, Cyrus
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6
Barker, Mary
374310ad-d308-44af-b6da-515bf5d2d6d2
Lawrence, Wendy
e9babc0a-02c9-41df-a289-7b18f17bf7d8
Crozier, Sarah
a9c88016-8f46-4659-954e-4d7af8a49594
Robinson, Siân
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b
Baird, Janis
f4bf2039-6118-436f-ab69-df8b4d17f824
Margetts, Barrie
3fb8c676-7baf-4e1c-a07f-a2d7700958c5
Cooper, Cyrus
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6

Barker, Mary, Lawrence, Wendy, Crozier, Sarah, Robinson, Siân, Baird, Janis, Margetts, Barrie and Cooper, Cyrus (2009) Educational attainment, perceived control and the quality of women's diets. Appetite, 52 (3), 631-636. (doi:10.1016/j.appet.2009.02.011).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Objective: data from the Southampton Women's Survey have established that women of lower educational attainment have poorer quality diets than those of higher educational attainment. This relationship is strong and graded such that for every increase in level of educational qualification, there is an increase in the likelihood that a woman will have a better quality diet. It is not wholly explained by socio-economic status. Qualitative research carried out in Southampton suggests that women of lower educational attainment may have a poorer diet because they feel they lack control over the food choices they make for themselves and their families. We set out to investigate the relationship between educational attainment, perceived control and quality of diet in a sample of women from Southampton. Design: cross-sectional study using structured interviews in which women's diet, educational attainment and perceived control were assessed. Setting: 19 Children's Centres and baby clinics in Southampton, UK. Participants: 372 women, median age 28 years. Main outcome measures: quality of diet assessed by prudent diet score produced from principal components analysis of 20-item food frequency questionnaire, and perceived control assessed by a validated questionnaire. Results: Women of lower educational attainment tended to have lower prudent diet scores and lower perceived control scores than women of higher educational attainment. Having a lower prudent diet score was associated with consuming fewer vegetables and vegetable dishes, less wholemeal bread and vegetarian food, and more chips and roast potatoes, meat pies, Yorkshire puddings and pancakes, crisps and snacks, white bread and added sugar. In a regression model both lower educational attainment and lower perceived control were associated with lower prudent diet scores, independent of the effects of confounding factors. However there was an interaction effect such that lower perceived control was only related to prudent diet score in the group of women of lower educational attainment. Conclusion: Women of lower educational attainment perceive themselves to have less control over their lives than women of higher educational attainment, and this perceived lack of control is reflected in their diets being of poorer quality. Our findings suggest that level of perceived control over life is a more important predictor of quality of diet in women of lower educational attainment than in those of higher educational attainment. It may be that psychological and social difficulties disproportionately affect the diets of women of lower educational attainment. We are currently exploring variations in quality of diet among women of lower educational attainment in relation to a range of psychological and social factors

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Published date: June 2009
Keywords: food choice, perceived control, educational attainment, disadvantage, women's health

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 68844
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/68844
ISSN: 0195-6663
PURE UUID: 87ec4c0b-cca5-44d0-8e97-a4e08e77edee
ORCID for Mary Barker: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-2976-0217
ORCID for Wendy Lawrence: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1264-0438
ORCID for Siân Robinson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1766-7269
ORCID for Janis Baird: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-4039-4361
ORCID for Cyrus Cooper: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3510-0709

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Date deposited: 07 Oct 2009
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 02:56

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Contributors

Author: Mary Barker ORCID iD
Author: Wendy Lawrence ORCID iD
Author: Sarah Crozier
Author: Siân Robinson ORCID iD
Author: Janis Baird ORCID iD
Author: Barrie Margetts
Author: Cyrus Cooper ORCID iD

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