Sociodemographic and lifestyle predictors of young women's diets

Abstract

Eating patterns vary with sociodemographic and lifestyle information, and thus women likely to have inadequate diets need to be identified so that public health advice can be targeted most appropriately.

These issues were explored in two datasets:  the Princess Anne Hospital (PAH) study of 620 pregnant women and the Southampton Women’s Survey (SWS) of 6,129 non-pregnant women aged 20-34.  Sociodemographic and lifestyle measures were defined in detail.  In particular, occupation-based measurement of women’s social position is often problematic because relatively few women work full-time, and therefore methods using her own occupation, her partner’s occupation, or a combination were explored.

Diet was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to generate overall dietary scores.  The first two scores were stable across different methods of food grouping;  the first score described a ‘prudent’ diet, and the second a ‘high-energy’ diet.

A higher prudent diet score was independently associated with older age, higher qualifications, living with fewer children and not smoking.  In the PAH study there were additional effects of a higher Cambridge score, and a lower Townsend index in late pregnancy, whereas SWS women from ethnic minorities, who took strenuous exercise, watched less television or were currently dieting were more likely to eat a prudent diet.

A higher-energy diet score was independently associated with a lower Cambridge score living with more children, not dieting and a lower BMI in both early and late pregnancy in the PAH study.  In early pregnancy there were additional effects of younger age, smoking and eating more food since becoming pregnant, whereas in the SWS only living with more children was associated with a higher-energy diet score.

Analyses in this thesis have demonstrated that PCA is a valuable means of assessing diet.

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