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- Thomson, Jessica
- 2023
- 2022
- 2021
- 2020
- Publications
- Human Nutrition (107)

Research Project: **Location:
                            Office of The Area Director** Project Number: 6001-51000-004-000-D
                        
                        Project Type: In-House Appropriated Start Date: May 1, 2019
                        
                        End Date: Apr 30, 2024 **Objective:**
                        
                        1. Determine if the association between self-assessed and measured diet quality (based on the Healthy Eating Index) in adolescents is moderated by gender, body mass index, and food related behaviors using the most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and associated Flexible Consumer Behavior Survey datasets.

2. Determine if health behavior relationships in families are moderated or mediated by psychosocial constructs related to diet and physical activity, parenting style, and community/neighborhood environments using the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health and Eating Study datasets.

3. Measure the different food environments to which children living in the Lower Mississippi Delta region are exposed. **Approach:**
                        
                        1. Associations between self-assessed and measured diet quality will be determined for adolescents 16-19 years of age using the 2 most recent cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).  NHANES is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States.  Self-assessed diet quality will be based upon the Flexible Consumer Behavior Survey item “In general, how healthy is your overall diet?”.  Measured diet quality will be computed using dietary intake data collected in the dietary interview component of NHANES, and the Healthy Eating Index, a diet quality scoring system.  Moderation analysis will be used to determine if the association between self-assessed and measured diet quality is differentially influenced by gender, body mass index, and food related behaviors.

2. Relationships between adolescent and parent/caregiver dietary and physical activity behavior will be determined using the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health and Eating Study (FLASHE) datasets.  FLASHE is a cross-sectional, Internet based survey that was administered to dyads of parents and their adolescent child (aged 12-17 years) in 2014.  It was designed to examine lifestyle behaviors, including diet and physical activity, that relate to cancer risk.  Dietary behavior, related psychosocial constructs, and community/neighborhood food environment characteristics will be based upon data from the Teen Diet and Parent Diet Surveys which contained a 27-item dietary screener.  Physical activity, measured as minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and related psychosocial constructs will be based upon data from the Teen Physical Activity and Parent Physical Activity Surveys.  Measures of parenting style will be obtained from the Teen Demographic and Parent Demographic Surveys using the 6 items that pertain to the adolescent/parent(s) relationship.  The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model will be used to measure the influence that parents have on their adolescent's dietary and physical activity behaviors.

3. Food outlets will be measured using tools designed to assess community nutrition environments.  Childcare facilities will be measured using tools designed to assess child nutrition environments specific to such facilities.  Geographical analyses will be conducted to determine if patterns of food outlets are clustered, dispersed, or random in the geographic areas of interest.  Census tract data will be mapped to explore spatial relationships among food outlets, child care facilities, and population demographic characteristics such as age, race/ethnicity, and poverty status.


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