Association Between Nutrition Resource Stress and Dietary Consumption: Results From a U.S. Nationally Representative Survey

Abstract

Background. There is little research on how affective reactions (e.g., stress) to perceptions of nutritious food accessibility contribute to dietary behaviors. Aims. This study explores whether stress associated with limited access to nutritious foods—termed nutrition resource stress (NRS)—contributes to diet outcomes, and whether these associations are mediated by health-related self-efficacy. Method. Using data from the cross-sectional National Cancer Institute’s Health Information National Trends Survey, analyses were conducted to examine whether reported NRS was associated with specific dietary behaviors (i.e., fewer servings of fruit/vegetables; more servings of sugar-sweetened soda; N = 3,112). Results. Analyses revealed a main association such that NRS was negatively associated with fruit/vegetable consumption (β = −0.08, p = .016). There was a negative association between NRS and self-efficacy (β = −0.11, p < .001). There was no significant association between NRS and soda consumption. Mediation analyses revealed a significant indirect association between NRS and fruit/vegetable consumption, mediated by perceived health-related self-efficacy (β = −0.03, 95% confidence interval [−.04, −.01], p < .0001). Given that self-efficacy (the mediator) was not significantly associated with soda consumption (β = 0.01, p = .912), mediation analyses were not conducted for this outcome. Conclusion. This study suggests that stress associated with perceptions of inability to access nutritious foods may influence dietary behaviors, and points to a psychological mechanism (i.e., self-efficacy) that may explain the association. In addition to improving objective barriers of access to healthy foods, future interventions might address ways of improving nutritious food–related self-efficacy or perceived stress related to obtaining healthy foods.