Women Of Lower Educational Attainment Research Articles

The Impact of Women's Health Clinic Closures on Preventive Care

We examine the impact of women's health clinic closures on women's preventive care use in Texas and Wisconsin using a unique policy context, data on clinic street addresses, and confidential respondent ZIP codes from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. From a within-ZIP-code analysis, we conclude that an increase of 100 miles to the nearest clinic results in a decrease in the annual utilization rate of a clinical breast exam by 11 percent, a mammogram by 18 percent, and a Pap test by 14 percent. These estimates are generally larger for women of lower educational attainment. (JEL H75, I11, I18, J13, J16)

Do state breastfeeding laws in the USA promote breast feeding?

ObjectivesDespite the passage of state laws promoting breast feeding, a formal evaluation has not yet been conducted to test whether and/or what type of laws may increase breast feeding. The...

Low levels of food involvement and negative affect reduce the quality of diet in women of lower educational attainment

Women of lower educational attainment tend to have poorer quality diets and lower food involvement (an indicator of the priority given to food) than women of higher educational attainment. The present study reports a study of the role of food involvement in the relationship between educational attainment and quality of diet in young women. The first phase uses six focus group discussions (n = 28) to explore the function of food involvement in shaping the food choices of women of lower and higher educational attainment with young children. The second phase is a survey that examines the relationship between educational attainment and quality of diet in women, and explores the role of mediating factors identified by the focus group discussions. The focus groups suggested that lower food involvement in women of lower educational attainment might be associated with negative affect (i.e. an observable expression of negative emotion), and that this might mean that they did not place a high priority on eating a good quality diet. In support of this hypothesis, the survey of 1010 UK women found that 14% of the effect of educational attainment on food involvement was mediated through the woman's affect (P ≤ 0.001), and that 9% of the effect of educational attainment on quality of diet was mediated through food involvement (P ≤ 0.001). Women who leave school with fewer qualifications may have poorer quality diets than women with more qualifications because they tend to have a lower level of food involvement, partly attributed to a more negative affect. Interventions to improve women's mood may benefit their quality of diet.

Specific psychological variables predict quality of diet in women of lower, but not higher, educational attainment

Our previous work found that perceived control over life was a significant predictor of the quality of diet of women of lower educational attainment. In this paper, we explore the influence on quality of diet of a range of psychological and social factors identified during focus group discussions, and specify the way this differs in women of lower and higher educational attainment. We assessed educational attainment, quality of diet, and psycho-social factors in 378 women attending Sure Start Children's Centres and baby clinics in Southampton, UK. Multiple-group path analysis showed that in women of lower educational attainment, the effect of general self-efficacy on quality of diet was mediated through perceptions of control and through food involvement, but that there were also direct effects of social support for healthy eating and having positive outcome expectancies. There was no effect of self-efficacy, perceived control or outcome expectancies on the quality of diet of women of higher educational attainment, though having more social support and food involvement were associated with improved quality of diet in these women. Our analysis confirms our hypothesis that control-related factors are more important in determining dietary quality in women of lower educational attainment than in women of higher educational attainment.

067 Food insecurity, well-being and inequalities in diet in UK women

ObjectivePrevalence of household food insecurity varies between populations, but is higher among those who have low incomes, poor educational attainment and low sense of well-being. The impact of household food...

Why do women of lower educational attainment have lower food involvement than women of higher educational attainment?

Faltering growth of a baby in the womb and in infancy has been linked to the risk of developing chronic diseases later in life. The growth of a baby is dependent on its nutritional status, which is strongly influenced by the mother’s own eating habits (1) . Research has shown that women who are disadvantaged by leaving school with few or no qualifications eat a less-balanced and poorer-quality diet than women with qualifications (2) . Previous research suggests that differing levels of food involvement (the importance of food in an individual’s life) might explain differences in the quality of diet of these two groups of women (3) . This research was based on the construct of food involvement (4) . This notion of food involvement was explored by analysing six focus group transcripts, three from discussions with women of lower educational attainment (LEA) and three from discussions with women of higher educational attainment (HEA). Discussions were coded according to the five stages of the feeding cycle (acquisition, preparation, cooking, eating and disposal of food) as described previously (5) , on which the construct of food involvement (4) is based. The results of discussions with women of LEA were compared with those from women of HEA. Differences between the women of LEA and HEA were identified in the areas of acquisition, cooking and eating. There was very little discussion about preparation and disposal of food and both groups of women commented on these areas in a similar way. Women of LEA stated that what food they acquired was largely dictated by its cost and what they felt their partners and children would eat. Women of LEA also described how they felt it was important to cook for their partners and children but they did not value themselves enough to feed themselves properly. Some mentioned that they would enjoy cooking more if they lived alone. There was an absence of discussion about the enjoyment of eating food from the women of LEA, compared with the women of HEA who mentioned enjoying trying new foods, sitting down to eat with their family and going out to eat with friends and family. There appeared to be important differences between the two groups of women in what influenced their patterns of acquisition. Women of LEA seemed to feel they had less control over what food they bought. A lack of a sense of self worth in the women of LEA seemed to underlie the differences between the two groups of women in terms of their involvement in the cooking and eating of food, and there were also differences in how the two groups of women described their enjoyment of these areas of food involvement. Women of HEA spoke about how past experiences had encouraged them to experience the social aspect of cooking and eating, whereas the women of LEA did not speak about enjoyment or socialising as part of cooking and eating and described no past experiences where this notion could have been introduced. In women of LEA a perceived need to feed everyone before themselves and put their own dietary requirements last might begin to explain the differences in food involvement in women of LEA in Southampton. The lack of discussion in the areas of disposal and preparation of food suggest that the feeding cycle as described previously (5) may not be the ideal model to qualitatively conceptualise food involvement.

The role of well-being and food involvement in determining the dietary quality of disadvantaged women

Women who are disadvantaged by leaving school with a few or no qualifications eat a less balanced and poorer-quality diet than women with qualifications (1) . Our previous research suggests that women of lower educational attainment (LEA) also have lower levels of food involvement (2) . Food involvement summarises the priority someone gives to food from its acquisition through to its disposal and is assessed using a validated questionnaire (3) . Our qualitative data suggest that women of LEA may have lower food involvement because they value themselves too little to spend time and effort preparing food for themselves (4) . This contrasts with women of higher educational attainment (HEA) who appear to place a higher priority on feeding themselves good food. We do not know whether poorer well-being of women of LEA is directly associated with having a poorer-quality diet. We therefore set out to answer two questions: (1) are there differences in well-being in women of LEA and women of HEA and are these differences associated with differences in food involvement in women of LEA and HEA? (2) Do differences in well-being and food involvement explain differences in the dietary quality between women of LEA and HEA? We conducted a cross-sectional survey assessing educational attainment, food involvement, well-being and quality of diet (5) in 1022 women attending Sure Start Children’s Centres and baby clinics in Hampshire, UK. Validated assessment measures were used.

Why women of lower educational attainment struggle to make healthier food choices: The importance of psychological and social factors

Women of lower educational attainment are more likely to eat unhealthy diets than women of higher educational attainment. To identify influences on the food choices of women with lower educational attainment, 11 focus groups (eight with women of lower, and three with women of higher educational attainment) were held. Using a semi-structured discussion guide, environmental, social, historical and psychological factors known to be associated with food choice were explored. Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Compared to women of higher educational attainment, women of lower educational attainment had less control over their families’ food choices, less support for attempts to eat healthily, fewer opportunities to observe and learn good food-related practices, more negative affect, more perceived environmental constraints and more ambiguous beliefs about the consequences of eating a nutritious diet. These findings provide a starting point for taking forward the design of an intervention to improve the diets of young women.

Educational attainment, perceived control and the quality of women's diets

Objective: Data from the Southampton Women's Survey have established that women of lower educational attainment have poorer quality diets than those of higher educational attainment. This relationship is strong and graded such that for every increase in level of educational qualification, there is an increase in the likelihood that a woman will have a better quality diet. It is not wholly explained by socio-economic status. Qualitative research carried out in Southampton suggests that women of lower educational attainment may have a poorer diet because they feel they lack control over the food choices they make for themselves and their families. We set out to investigate the relationship between educational attainment, perceived control and quality of diet in a sample of women from Southampton. Design: Cross-sectional study using structured interviews in which women's diet, educational attainment and perceived control were assessed. Setting: 19 Children's Centres and baby clinics in Southampton, UK. Participants: 372 women, median age 28 years. Main outcome measures: Quality of diet assessed by prudent diet score produced from principal components analysis of 20-item food frequency questionnaire, and perceived control assessed by a validated questionnaire. Results: Women of lower educational attainment tended to have lower prudent diet scores and lower perceived control scores than women of higher educational attainment. Having a lower prudent diet score was associated with consuming fewer vegetables and vegetable dishes, less wholemeal bread and vegetarian food, and more chips and roast potatoes, meat pies, Yorkshire puddings and pancakes, crisps and snacks, white bread and added sugar. In a regression model both lower educational attainment and lower perceived control were associated with lower prudent diet scores, independent of the effects of confounding factors. However there was an interaction effect such that lower perceived control was only related to prudent diet score in the group of women of lower educational attainment. Conclusion: Women of lower educational attainment perceive themselves to have less control over their lives than women of higher educational attainment, and this perceived lack of control is reflected in their diets being of poorer quality. Our findings suggest that level of perceived control over life is a more important predictor of quality of diet in women of lower educational attainment than in those of higher educational attainment. It may be that psychological and social difficulties disproportionately affect the diets of women of lower educational attainment. We are currently exploring variations in quality of diet among women of lower educational attainment in relation to a range of psychological and social factors.

Constraints on food choices of women in the UK with lower educational attainment

Women of lower educational attainment have less balanced and varied diets than women of higher educational attainment. The diets of women are vital to the long-term health of their offspring. The present study aimed to identify factors that influence the food choices of women with lower educational attainment and how women could be helped to improve those choices. We conducted eight focus group discussions with women of lower educational attainment to identify these factors. We contrasted the results of these discussions with those from three focus group discussions with women of higher educational attainment. Southampton, UK. Forty-two white Caucasian women of lower educational attainment and fourteen of higher educational attainment aged 18 to 44 years. The dominant theme in discussions with women of lower educational attainment was their sense that they lacked control over food choices for themselves and their families. Partners and children exerted a high degree of control over which foods were bought and prepared. Women's perceptions of the cost of healthy food, the need to avoid waste, being trapped at home surrounded by opportunities to snack, and having limited skill and experience with food, all contributed to their sense they lacked control over their own and their family's food choices. An intervention to improve the food choices of women with lower educational attainment needs to increase their sense of control over their diet and the foods they buy. This might include increasing their skills in food preparation.

Women of lower educational attainment have lower food involvement and eat less fruit and vegetables

Women who leave school with few or no educational qualifications are less likely to have diets that meet current recommendations than women who attain more qualifications at school. We hypothesise that lower ‘food involvement’, meaning that food has a lower level of importance in their lives, explains the poorer quality diets of women of lower educational attainment. We administered Bell and Marshall [(2003). The construct of food involvement in behavioral research: Scale development and validation. Appetite, 40, 235–244.] Food Involvement scale to 242 women of varied educational attainment, of whom 127 were also asked how often they ate fruit and vegetables. Women's food involvement decreased with decreasing educational attainment. Forty-two percent of women who had no educational qualifications were in the lowest quarter of the food involvement score, compared with 12% of women with degrees. Women with lower scores on the food involvement scale also reported eating fruit and vegetables less often. The odds of eating fewer fruit and vegetables rose with lower educational attainment and with lower food involvement scores, suggesting that each has an independent effect. We have shown that the Food Involvement scale discriminates between women, is associated with other characteristics and predicts dietary quality. We now plan to use it in a larger, representative population of women of lower educational attainment to examine its role along with other psychological variables in determining dietary quality.

Marital Role, Education, and Mental Disorder Among Women: Test of an Interaction Hypothesis

The relationship of marital status and mental disorder among married and never married women is examined in a probability sample offour Midwestern communities. A statistically signifi cant interaction of marital status and educational attainment on mental disorder wasfound with the married having more disorder than the never married among women of lower educational attainment, both before and after introducing controlsfor age and employment status. No sign ficant differences in mental disorder werefound among women with high school or higher educational attainment. Thesefindings suggest the advisability of refining current marital role explanations for mental disorder among women.