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Alok Bhargava investigates food insecurity, quality of life, and productivity among HIV patients receiving antiretroviral treatment in South Africa

New seed grant project headed by Judith Hellerstein investigates the causes of the rise in autism diagnoses

Caryn Bell, African American Studies, examines the effects of macro-level structural racism on population health

Jessica N. Fish, Family Science, investigates sexual-orientation-related disparities in mental, behavioral, and physical health

Julia Steinberg, Family Science

Are Enrollment Gains From Conditional Cash Transfers Sustained After Program Rollback? Evidence From Mexico

Early Life Course Exposure to Family Instability and Adult Health

Estimating the Effect of a Universal Cash Transfer on Birth Outcomes

Sponsored by NICHD, MPRC, Minnesota Population Center, and the Maryland Time Use Laboratory

Objective:  The association between social norms and dietary behaviors is well-documented, but few studies examine the role of race. The aim of this study was to determine the interrelationships among race, social norms, and dietary behaviors.  Methods:  We used data from the Healthy Friends Network Study (a pilot study of women attending a southern university). Dietary behaviors, social norms, and self-identified race were obtained.  Results:  African Americans had lower odds of daily vegetable (OR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.38-0.79) and fruit consumption (OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.30-0.67), but no race difference in frequent consumption of fatty/fried/salty/sugary foods was observed in fully adjusted models. Proximal descriptive norms were associated with all dietary behaviors, but distal injunctive social norms were associated with lower odds of frequent unhealthy food consumption (OR = 0.10, 95% CI = 0.05-0.21). Race differences in family descriptive norms were found to mediate race differences in vegetable and fruit consumption by 7%-9%. However, race differences in friend and family injunctive norms mediated 20%-50% of the effects of race on frequent unhealthy food consumption.  Conclusions:  Proximal injunctive norms account for race differences in unhealthy food consumption. Future studies should further explicate the mechanisms and seek to utilize social norms in behavior change interventions.