Association of food environments around home and school with adolescent dietary behaviors and weight status

Background: Increasingly, research suggests that the retail food environment is associated with dietary behaviors and health outcomes. Previous research has examined the association of the food environment near home with diet and weight status or the association of the food environment near school with diet and weight status. However, there has been little research examining the combined effects of the food environments around both home and school. Methods: Using data from the 2007 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), a random-digit dial telephone survey of California households, an InfoUSA business database and the US Census, we examine the association of the food environment around home and the food environment school with dietary behaviors of adolescents. The food environment is characterized in terms of the availability of fast food restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores, produce markets and liquor stores. Results: The relationship between dietary behaviors (i.e., soda consumption, fruit and vegetable consumption) and the food environments around both school and home after adjusting for sociodemographic factors will be examined. Associations between food environment and weight status will also be examined. The food environments that are most closely associated with better dietary behaviors and a healthy weight will be identified. Conclusions: Improving the retail food environment could help improve dietary behaviors and weight status of adolescents. Because adolescents are exposed to food environments near both their home and their school, examining the combined influence of these two food environments can yield important information for improving dietary behaviors and preventing obesity.