Impact of Sociodemographic Factors on Perceived Importance of Nutrition in Food Shopping.

Over the past decade, many resources have been allocated by both private and public sectors to nutrition information programs. Some of the commonly known public nutrition information or promotion programs include the Recommended Daily Allowances, Food Pyramid, the Surgeon General's Report on Diet and Health, the Five-a-Day for Better Health, and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Other sources of nutritional information include the WIC, SHARE, and the Expanded Food and Nutrition Programs. Moreover, due to the Nutritional Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), food manufacturers are now required to use nutrition labels to inform and remind consumers of the product's nutrition profiles. Consumers also receive nutritional information from newspaper or magazine articles, advertisements, in-store displays, formal or informal extension courses, and medical or health professionals. Although more Americans are now aware of the importance of good diet or nutrition due to public and private nutrition information programs, it is becoming increasingly clear that nutrition knowledge does not directly predict dietary behavior as those with more knowledge do not necessarily change their behavior (Putler and Frazao 1994; Sapp 1991; Shepherd and Towler 1992). This may be why intervention programs aimed at increasing nutrition knowledge or awareness such as supermarket point-of-purchase programs seem to have limited impact (Rodgers et al. 1994). Therefore, increasing an individual's level of knowledge does not necessarily change attitudes and does not necessarily result in the desired effect on food choices. In contrast to nutrition knowledge, perceptions about attributes of foods, such as importance of nutrition, appear to be good predictors of dietary behavior (Shepherd and Towler 1992; Tuorila 1987; Tuorila and Pangborn 1988). Therefore, consumer information programs aimed at promoting more healthful consumption behaviors may be less effective when consumers do not consider nutrition as a salient attribute of food. The success of consumer information programs depends partly on whether consumers perceive nutrition to be important enough to actively acquire and process the information which in turn can lead to desired attitude and behavior changes (Lin 1995). Hence, a person's perceived importance of nutrition when shopping for food may affect the effectiveness of nutrition labels and other nutrition information programs. An individual's sociodemographic characteristics can influence the perceived importance of various food attributes (i.e., nutrition) (Weirenga 1983). However, scant information in the literature is available concerning the relationships of sociodemographic factors to the importance of food attributes (Lin 1995; Schutz, Judge, and Gentry 1986). To fill this void, this article examines the relationship of sociodemographic factors to a household's main meal planner's perception of the importance of nutrition in food shopping. No known study has been conducted on this topic. Knowledge of the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and perceived importance of an attribute like nutrition is useful in the design and implementation of nutrition information programs. For instance, because the perception of a household's main meal planner about nutrition may affect the health of household members including elderly and children, it is important to identify the meal planners who may need a greater appreciation for nutrition to improve the health of all members of the household. In addition, the findings of this study could also be used as a guide to target government nutrition information and food marketing programs toward specific subgroups. Sociodemographic factors can be used to tailor health interventions and marketing campaigns to specific population subgroups. Lin (1995) suggested that targeted consumer information programs are more efficient than generic programs in improving the general health of the nation. …