Influences on diet quality in older age: the importance of social factors
Influences on diet quality in older age: the importance of social factors
Background: poor diet quality is common among older people, but little is known about influences on food choice, including the role of psychosocial factors at this age.
Objective: to identify psychosocial correlates of diet quality in a community-dwelling population of men and women aged 59–73 years; to describe relationships with change in diet quality over 10 years.
Design: Longitudinal cohort, Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS).
Subjects: HCS participants assessed at baseline (1998–2003: 1,048 men, 862 women); 183 men and 189 women re-assessed in 2011.
Methods: diet was assessed by administered food frequency questionnaire; diet scores were calculated to describe diet quality at baseline and follow-up. A range of psychosocial factors (social support, social network, participation in leisure activities, depression and anxiety, sense of control) were assessed by questionnaire.
Results: at baseline, better diet quality was related to a range of social factors, including increased confiding/emotional social support (men and women), practical support (men) and a larger social network (women) (all P < 0.05). For both men and women, greater participation in social and cognitive leisure activities was related to better diet quality (P < 0.005). There were few associations between measured psychosocial factors at baseline and change in diet score over 10 years, in the follow-up sub-group. However, greater participation in leisure activities, especially cognitive activities, at baseline was associated with smaller declines in diet quality over the 10-year follow-up period for both men (P = 0.017) and women (P = 0.014).
Conclusions: in community-dwelling older adults, a range of social factors, that includes greater participation in leisure activities, were associated with diets of better quality.
277-283
Bloom, Ilse
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Edwards, Mark
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Jameson, Karen A.
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Syddall, Holly E.
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Dennison, Elaine
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Gale, Catharine R.
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Baird, Janis
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Cooper, Cyrus
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Aihie Sayer, Avan
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Robinson, Sian
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1 March 2017
Bloom, Ilse
af2a38ab-3255-414d-afa1-e3089ee45e3f
Edwards, Mark
0b95b131-86cc-4ee7-b5fd-4694d9acbf0d
Jameson, Karen A.
d5fb142d-06af-456e-9016-17497f94e9f2
Syddall, Holly E.
a0181a93-8fc3-4998-a996-7963f0128328
Dennison, Elaine
ee647287-edb4-4392-8361-e59fd505b1d1
Gale, Catharine R.
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Baird, Janis
f4bf2039-6118-436f-ab69-df8b4d17f824
Cooper, Cyrus
e05f5612-b493-4273-9b71-9e0ce32bdad6
Aihie Sayer, Avan
fb4c2053-6d51-4fc1-9489-c3cb431b0ffb
Robinson, Sian
ba591c98-4380-456a-be8a-c452f992b69b
Bloom, Ilse, Edwards, Mark, Jameson, Karen A., Syddall, Holly E., Dennison, Elaine, Gale, Catharine R., Baird, Janis, Cooper, Cyrus, Aihie Sayer, Avan and Robinson, Sian
(2017)
Influences on diet quality in older age: the importance of social factors.
Age and Ageing, 46 (2), .
(doi:10.1093/ageing/afw180).
(PMID:27744301)
Abstract
Background: poor diet quality is common among older people, but little is known about influences on food choice, including the role of psychosocial factors at this age.
Objective: to identify psychosocial correlates of diet quality in a community-dwelling population of men and women aged 59–73 years; to describe relationships with change in diet quality over 10 years.
Design: Longitudinal cohort, Hertfordshire Cohort Study (HCS).
Subjects: HCS participants assessed at baseline (1998–2003: 1,048 men, 862 women); 183 men and 189 women re-assessed in 2011.
Methods: diet was assessed by administered food frequency questionnaire; diet scores were calculated to describe diet quality at baseline and follow-up. A range of psychosocial factors (social support, social network, participation in leisure activities, depression and anxiety, sense of control) were assessed by questionnaire.
Results: at baseline, better diet quality was related to a range of social factors, including increased confiding/emotional social support (men and women), practical support (men) and a larger social network (women) (all P < 0.05). For both men and women, greater participation in social and cognitive leisure activities was related to better diet quality (P < 0.005). There were few associations between measured psychosocial factors at baseline and change in diet score over 10 years, in the follow-up sub-group. However, greater participation in leisure activities, especially cognitive activities, at baseline was associated with smaller declines in diet quality over the 10-year follow-up period for both men (P = 0.017) and women (P = 0.014).
Conclusions: in community-dwelling older adults, a range of social factors, that includes greater participation in leisure activities, were associated with diets of better quality.
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AgeAgeingDietSocial August 2016 - final.doc
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AgeAgeingSupplementaryDataAug2016 - final.doc
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Accepted/In Press date: 26 August 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 15 October 2016
Published date: 1 March 2017
Organisations:
Faculty of Medicine
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Local EPrints ID: 399876
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/399876
ISSN: 0002-0729
PURE UUID: ce74b43d-89f4-4318-8293-514455427e4d
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Date deposited: 02 Sep 2016 09:59
Last modified: 06 Mar 2026 05:02
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Author:
Mark Edwards
Author:
Avan Aihie Sayer
Author:
Sian Robinson
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