title: Ecological momentary assessment of environmental and personal factors and snack food intake in African American women.
abstract: This study examined contributions of environmental and personal factors (specifically, food availability and expense, daily hassles, self-efficacy, positive and negative affect) to within-person and between-person variations in snack food intake in 100 African American women. Participants were signaled at random five times daily for seven days to complete a survey on a study-provided smartphone. Women reported consuming snack foods at 35.2% of signals. Easier food availability accounting for one's usual level was associated with higher snack food intake. Being near outlets that predominately sell snacks (e.g., convenience stores), while accounting for one's usual proximity to them, was associated with higher snack food intake. Accounting for one's usual daily hassle level, we found that on days with more frequent daily hassles snack food intake was higher. The positive association between within-person daily hassles frequency and snack food intake was stronger when foods were easily available. Public and private policies to curb ubiquitous food availability and mobile health interventions that take into account time-varying influences on food choices and provide real-time assistance in dealing with easy food availability and coping with stressors may be beneficial in improving African American women's day to day food choices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Systems Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA. Electronic address: szenk@uic.edu.
authors.forename: Shannon N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Zenk
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Horoi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, The Pennsylvania State University, USA.
authors.forename: Ashley
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Systems Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Corte
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Systems Science, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
authors.forename: Barth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Riley
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology and Nutrition, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
authors.forename: Angela M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Odoms-Young
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D040421:Cell Phone; D002641:Chicago; D004032:Diet / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D004034:Diet Surveys / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D062410:Snacks / Q000208:ethnology; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D014504:Urban Health / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology
keywords: Affect; Diet; Food availability; Food prices; Self-Efficacy; Stress