Time-Saving Meals and (Un)Healthy Eating: Ethnoracial and Nativity Group Differences

• In Event: 383 - Section on Consumers and Consumption Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Section on Consumers and Consumption Roundtables (one-hour). Table 01. Food and Shopping

Abstract

Immigrant exposure to U.S. culture has been linked to a variety of negative health outcomes such as obesity, but the ways in which lifestyle and dietary change may drive these trends are still incompletely understood. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2007-2010), I examine differences in meal practices and perceptions of dietary health across ethno-racial and nativity groups. The mediating influences of vegetarianism, education, and consumption constraints (e.g. income, employment status) are also explored. Findings indicate that the foreign-born are less likely than their US-born counterparts to make time-saving meal choices such as fast food or frozen food, eating behaviors that are associated with poorer dietary health. Length of U.S. residence is positively associated with these meal practices, providing some evidence of negative assimilation. Finally, significant differences in self-rated dietary health persist after controlling for meals and socioeconomic indicators: within the foreign-born population, blacks and whites are most likely to report very healthy diets while Mexicans are least likely to do so. Ethno-racial differences in self-rated dietary health diminish within the US-born population, although a ‘white advantage’ over minorities, and Mexicans in particular, emerges. Some implications and avenues for future research are discussed.

Author

• Anne DeLessio-Parson, Pennsylvania State University