Household responsibility and dietary behavior: An issue of control or overload?

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that the performance of dual roles (i.e., engaging in both paid employment and maintaining significant household responsibility) can negatively affect the nutritional quality of meals prepared within the household. This study examines how household context and, specifically, share of responsibility for household responsibilities, influence improvement in dietary behavior among participants in a multi-site cluster-randomized intervention trial aimed at improving nutrition, physical activity, and multivitamin use. METHODS: Multiple regression models were created to determine the relationship between proportion of responsibility for income-earning and household tasks and increase in fruit and vegetable consumption and decrease in red meat consumption. RESULTS: Earning a higher proportion of the household income was associated with increased fruit and vegetable consumption for both men and women (p<.05). Earning a higher proportion of the household income was associated with decreased red meat consumption for men, while, for women, earning a higher proportion of the household income was associated with increased meat consumption (p<.05). Finally, for women, being responsible for little or no childcare was associated with reduced red meat consumption, while for men the same responsibility for childcare was associated with increased red meat consumption (p<.05). DISCUSSION: The results of this study demonstrate that household contextual factors such as proportion of responsibility for income-earning and childcare can be an important factor in determining the effectiveness of a health behavior intervention, but that the way in which these factors relate to improved health behavior is dependent upon the gender of the participant.