Family environment, children's acculturation and mothers' dietary intake and behaviors among Latinas: An autoregressive cross-lagged study

Abstract

Background: Many Latinos in the U.S. do not meet dietary recommendations for healthy eating. Family systems theory posits that the family environment affects family members' dietary behaviors. Moreover, research suggests that children's acculturation is associated with Latina mothers' dietary intake and behaviors.

Purpose: This longitudinal study examined the effect of the family environment on Latina mothers' dietary intake and behaviors. Further, we examined whether these effects differed between mothers of assimilated versus bicultural children.

Methods: Secondary data were collected at three time points (baseline, and four and 10 months' post-baseline) from 162 culturally traditional and bicultural Latina mothers residing in Imperial County, California, U.S. Participants were enrolled in the delayed treatment group of a randomized controlled trial. Mothers' daily fruit, vegetable, and sugary beverages intake, percent of calories from fat, weekly away-from-home eating, and percent of weekly grocery dollars spent on fruits and vegetables were examined. The family environment was measured by family expressiveness and family interactions around food. Separate autoregressive cross-lagged models examined the effects of the family environment on dietary outcomes, adjusting for sociodemographic variables. Interactions between the family environment and children's acculturation were also tested.

Results: Less positive family interactions around food at baseline predicted more frequent away-from-home eating four months later among mothers of assimilated children. More family expressiveness at four months predicted more grocery dollars spent on fruits and vegetables at ten months among mothers of bicultural children.

Conclusions: Findings suggest the importance of a positive family environment on socially-bound dietary behaviors (e.g., away-from-home eating) exhibited by the mother. Family interventions aimed at improving dietary intake and associated behaviors should promote a positive family environment around food and consider the moderating role of children's acculturation.

Keywords: Acculturation; Children; Diet; Family environment; Latinos; Mothers.

Figure 1. Theoretical model.

The bolded lines indicate paths that respond to the current study’s primary research questions and are expected to differ by child acculturation. FoodInt = family interactions around food, exp = family expressiveness, C_Acc = child’s acculturation.

Figure 2. Auto-regressive lagged analysis results of family expressiveness and interactions around food with mothers’ daily fruit servings.

Solid lines indicate statistically significant paths, dashed lines indicate non-significant paths. Standardized coefficients are shown. FoodInt = interactions around food, Exp = expressiveness. N=162; χ² 118.03, df: 90, p-value: 0.03;CFI: 0.84; RMSEA: 0.04; SRMR: 0.07. ^a Model adjusted for mothers’ marital status, employment, education, household income, and BMI, and children’s gender, BMI, and acculturation group at baseline. * p ≤ 0.05; ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001.

Figure 3. Auto-regressive lagged analysis results of family expressiveness and interactions around food with mothers’ daily vegetable servings.

Solid lines indicate statistically significant paths, dashed lines indicate non-significant paths. Standardized coefficients are shown. FoodInt: interactions around food; Exp: expressiveness. N=162; χ² 111.48, df: 91, p-value: 0.07; CFI: 0.90; RMSEA: 0.04; SRMR: 0.07. ^a Model adjusted for mothers’ marital status, employment, education, household income, and BMI, and children’s gender, BMI, and acculturation group at baseline. * p ≤ 0.05; ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001.

Figure 4. Auto-regressive lagged analysis results of family expressiveness and interactions around food with mothers’ daily sugary beverage servings.

Solid lines indicate statistically significant paths, dashed lines indicate non-significant paths. Standardized coefficients are shown. FoodInt = interactions around food, Exp = expressiveness. N=162; χ² 129.80, df: 84, p-value: 0.001; CFI: 0.78; RMSEA: 0.06; SRMR: 0.08. ^a Assimilated vs. bicultural, ^b Model adjusted for mothers’ marital status, employment, education, household income, and BMI, and children’s gender, BMI, and acculturation group at baseline. * p ≤ 0.05; ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001.

Figure 5. Auto-regressive lagged analysis results of family expressiveness and interactions around food with mothers’ calories from fat.

Solid lines indicate statistically significant paths, dashed lines indicate non-significant paths. Standardized coefficients are shown. FoodInt = interactions around food, Exp = expressiveness. N=162; χ² 96.27, df: 84, p-value: 0.17; CFI: 0.93; RMSEA: 0.03; SRMR: 0.07. ^a Assimilated vs. bicultural, ^b Model adjusted for mothers’ marital status, employment, education, household income, BMI, and number of children in the home, and children’s gender, BMI, and acculturation group at baseline. * p ≤ 0.05; ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001.

Figure 6. Auto-regressive lagged analysis results of family expressiveness and interactions around food with mothers’ away-from-home eating among mothers with (a) assimilated and (b) bicultural children.

Solid lines indicate statistically significant paths, dashed lines indicate non-significant paths. Standardized coefficients are shown. AFH = away-from-home eating, FoodInt = interactions around food, Exp = expressiveness. (a) N=74; χ² 28.22, df: 21, p-value: 0.13; CFI: 0.89; RMSEA: 0.07; SRMR: 0.13; (b) N=88; χ² 18.03, df: 20, p-value: 0.59; CFI: 1.00; RMSEA: 0.00; SRMR: 0.07. * p ≤ 0.05; ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001.

Figure 7. Auto-regressive lagged analysis results of family expressiveness and interactions around food with the percent of grocery dollars spent on fruits and vegetables among mothers with (a) assimilated and (b) bicultural children.

Solid lines indicate statistically significant paths, dashed lines indicate non-significant paths. The bolded line indicates paths of primary interest in the current study. Standardized coefficients are shown. $FV = percent of grocery dollars spent on fruits and vegetables, FoodInt = interactions around food, Exp = expressiveness. (a) N=74; χ² 26.15, df: 18, p-value: 0.10; CFI: 0.83; RMSEA: 0.08; SRMR: 0.13; (b) N=88; χ² 13.70, df: 14, p-value: 0.47; CFI: 1.00; RMSEA: 0.00; SRMR: 0.08. * p ≤ 0.05; ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.001.