Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling of Students' Dietary Intentions/Behaviors, BMI, and the Healthfulness of Convenience Stores.

Background: When dietary behaviors are habitual, intentions are low, and environmental cues, such as the consumer food environment, might guide behavior. How might intentions to eat healthily and ultimately actual dietary behaviors, be influenced by the consumer food environment (including the availability and affordability of healthy foods) in convenience stores? This study will determine pathways between the healthfulness of convenience stores and college students' dietary intentions/behaviors, and body mass index (BMI).

Methods: Through multilevel structural equation modeling, a comparison was made of students' healthful meal intentions (HMI); intake (fruits/vegetables, %kcal/fat, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and whole-grains); and measured BMI; as well as the healthfulness of convenience stores (fruits/vegetables availability/quality, healthy food availability/affordability).

African American Women's Perceptions on Access to Food and Water in Flint, Michigan.

Objective: To explore the perceptions of food access by African American women in Flint, MI.

Methods: Using womanist theory, in which African American women's experiential knowledge centered the analysis, 8 focus groups were conducted during fall/spring, 2014-2015. Seventeen mothers aged 21-50 years with children aged <18 years and 13 women aged >60 years comprised the groups.

College Students' Health Behavior Clusters: Differences by Sex.

Objective: The study purpose was to identify clusters of weight-related behaviors by sex in a college student populations.

Methods: We conducted secondary data analysis from online surveys and physical assessments collected in Project Young Adults Eating and Active for Health (YEAH) with a convenience sample of students on 13 college campuses in the United States. We performed 2-step cluster analysis by sex to identify subgroups with homogeneous characteristics and behaviors.

Acculturation and Self-Management Perceptions Among Mexican American Adults With Type 2 Diabetes.

Because type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is disproportionately high among Mexican Americans in the United States, this study examined how acculturation influences T2DM self-management, a critical component for disease outcome. Qualitative interviews of 24 low-income Mexican American patients with T2DM were matched to their biomedical and dietary data and degree of acculturation. Greater acculturation to the United States was associated with less favorable diabetes control, fiber density, leisure-time physical activity, and more physical disability.

Path Analysis of Campus Walkability/Bikeability and College Students' Physical Activity Attitudes, Behaviors, and Body Mass Index.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the walkability/bikeability of college campuses and students' body mass index (BMI) with student physical activity (PA) attitudes and behaviors as potential mediators.

Design: Cross-sectional.

Setting: Thirteen university campuses.

What Social, Program, and Behavioral Factors Influence the Healthy Eating Index for EFNEP and SNAP-Ed Adult Participants?

The main objectives of this article were to determine the demographic factors, the program related factors and the behavioral factors that influence Michigan Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program-Education outcomes. Secondarily, we sought to understand the trends and changes in Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores across the differing baseline score groups. The data were collected by nutrition instructors in a pretest, posttest design to capture change in healthy eating habits through changes in HEI scores.

The effects of Young Adults Eating and Active for Health (YEAH): a theory-based Web-delivered intervention.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a tailored theory-based, Web-delivered intervention (Young Adults Eating and Active for Health) developed using community-based participatory research process.

Design: A 15-month (10-week intensive intervention with a 12-month follow-up) randomized, controlled trial delivered via Internet and e-mail.

Setting: Thirteen college campuses.

Concordance of self-report and measured height and weight of college students.

Objective: This study examined associations between college students' self-report and measured height and weight.

Methods: Participants (N = 1,686) were 77% white, 62% female, aged 18-24 years (mean ± SD, 19.1 ± 1.

An interactive parents' guide for feeding preschool-aged children: pilot studies for improvement.

There are few motivational materials to help families with limited resources develop optimal, practical feeding strategies for young children to reduce dietary risk for poor diet and weight status. Formative evaluation strategies consisting of both qualitative and quantitative data helped to refine the parent feeding guide Eat Healthy, Your Children are Watching, A Parent's Guide to Raising a Healthy Eater. An interdisciplinary planning team developed a five-topic, multimedia, interactive guide addressing the strategies most associated with improved diet quality and weight status of children aged 3 to 5 years.

Development of Young Adults Eating and Active for Health (YEAH) internet-based intervention via a community-based participatory research model.

Objective: To develop a tailored, theory-based, Web-delivered intervention to prevent excessive weight gain in young adults using a Community-Based Participatory Research model.

Design: Investigators from 14 universities developed the intervention and supporting administrative portal using the 4 phases of the PRECEDE model. Steering committees were composed of the target audience (aged 19-24 years) and key health/wellness personnel were formed at each institution and provided information during each phase that was used to guide development of the intervention, Project YEAH (Young Adults Eating and Active for Health).

Food parenting measurement issues: working group consensus report.

Childhood obesity is a growing problem. As more researchers become involved in the study of parenting influences on childhood obesity, there appears to be a lack of agreement regarding the most important parenting constructs of interest, definitions of those constructs, and measurement of those constructs in a consistent manner across studies. This article aims to summarize findings from a working group that convened specifically to discuss measurement issues related to parental influences on childhood obesity.

Process evaluation of Project WebHealth: a nondieting Web-based intervention for obesity prevention in college students.

Objective: To evaluate the motivational effect of the Project WebHealth study procedures and intervention components on weight-related health behavior changes in male and female college students.

Design: Process evaluation.

Setting: Eight universities in the United States.

The development and preliminary validation of the behavior, environment, and changeability survey (BECS).

Objective: To develop and test the validity of the Behavior, Environment, and Changeability Survey (BECS) for identifying the importance and changeability of nutrition, exercise, and stress management behavior and related aspects of the environment.

Design: A cross-sectional, online survey of the BECS and selected validated instruments.

Setting: Ten state universities.

Impact of an online healthful eating and physical activity program for college students.

Purpose: To identify impact of an online nutrition and physical activity program for college students.

Design: Randomized, controlled trial using online questionnaires and on-site physical and fitness assessments with measurement intervals of 0 (baseline), 3 (postintervention), and 15 months (follow-up).

Setting: Online intervention delivered to college students; a centralized Web site was used for recruitment, data collection, data management, and intervention delivery.

Feeding behaviors of low-income mothers: directive control relates to a lower BMI in children, and a nondirective control relates to a healthier diet in preschoolers.

Background: A topic of interest in the etiology of child obesity is whether and how parental feeding behaviors are associated with the food intake and weight status of children.

Objective: The objective was to explore whether and how directive (overt) and nondirective (covert and food environmental structure) types of parental feeding control were associated with children's food intake and weight status.

Design: This was a cross-sectional exploratory study using structural equation modeling to determine directional associations between maternal feeding practices and children's food intake and weight status.

Sweet and salty. An assessment of the snacks and beverages sold in vending machines on US post-secondary institution campuses.

This study assessed the nutritional quality of snacks and beverages sold in vending machines. The contents of snack and beverage vending machines in 78 buildings on 11 US post-secondary education campuses were surveyed. Of the 2607 snack machine slots surveyed, the most common snacks vended were salty snacks (e.

Maternal parenting behaviors during childhood relate to weight status and fruit and vegetable intake of college students.

Objective: Examine how maternal parenting behaviors in childhood, both general and feeding specific, relate to weight status and fruit and vegetable consumption in college students.

Design: Retrospective surveys on maternal behaviors and assessments on the college-aged child's current anthropometric measures and dietary intakes.

Participants: College students (n = 424; 66% women).

Identifying clusters of college students at elevated health risk based on eating and exercise behaviors and psychosocial determinants of body weight.

Weight gain and an increase in overweight and obesity in college students raise serious health concerns. Weight management interventions for college-age men and women might be more effective if they were tailored to subgroups of students with similar behavioral and psychosocial characteristics associated with body weight status. The purpose of this study was to use cluster analysis to identify homogenous subgroups of college-aged men and women enrolled in a weight gain prevention study (Project WebHealth) using baseline data collected in 2008.

Confirmatory factor analysis of a questionnaire measuring control in parental feeding practices in mothers of Head Start children.

Parental control in child feeding has focused primarily on directive types of control, such as pressure to eat and food restriction. This study aimed to develop an instrument to assess other types of directive control and two additional aspects of parental child feeding, non-directive and food environmental control. Mothers of Head Start children (n=330) completed a 29-item instrument designed to assess these three feeding constructs and reported their children's food intakes.

Schoolchildren's consumption of competitive foods and beverages, excluding à la carte.

Background: Competitive foods/beverages are those in school vending machines, school stores, snack bars, special sales, and items sold à la carte in the school cafeteria that compete with United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) meal program offerings. Grouping à la carte items with less nutritious items allowed in less regulated venues may obfuscate analysis of the school competitive food environment. Excluding à la carte items from competitive foods, the objectives were to: (1) assess competitive food use by gender, ethnicity, eligibility for free or reduced-price meals, and participation in school meals programs, (2) determine differences between grade levels in energy intakes obtained from food sources, (3) determine the nutrient intake derived from competitive foods for students who consumed them, and (4) determine energy-adjusted differences in 24-hour nutrient intakes of protein, calcium, iron, and other selected nutrients between competitive food consumer and nonconsumers.

Predictors of calcium intake at dinner meals of ethnically diverse mother-child dyads from families with limited incomes.

Diets adequate in calcium and other key nutrients early in life are critical for optimal growth. This study's objective was to determine associations between beverage and dairy food intakes of mothers and their young children and food/beverage contributions to calcium at dinner meals from ethnically diverse families with limited incomes. This was a secondary analysis of dietary data on mother-child dyads from a cross-sectional study.

Associations among parental feeding styles and children's food intake in families with limited incomes.

Background: Although general parenting styles and restrictive parental feeding practices have been associated with children's weight status, few studies have examined the association between feeding styles and proximal outcomes such as children's food intake, especially in multi-ethnic families with limited incomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association of parental feeding styles and young children's evening food intake in a multiethnic sample of families in Head Start.

Methods: Participants were 715 Head Start children and their parents from Texas and Alabama representing three ethnic groups: African-American (43%), Hispanic (29%), and White (28%).

Low-income young adults report increased variety in fruit and vegetable intake after a stage-tailored intervention.

The objective of this study was to determine if a fruit and vegetable (FV) intervention, previously demonstrated to increase amount of FV per day, also increased the variety consumed. Variety in FV intake was assessed using a 26-item FV (12 fruit and 14 vegetable) food frequency questionnaire on 1255 low-income adults, with ages from 18 to 24 years (control = 684 vs experimental = 571), after completion of a stage-tailored intervention to increase FV intakes. The food frequency questionnaire was administered at 12 months to assess how often and how much participants ate of each item over the previous year.

Nutrient quality of fast food kids meals.

Background: Exposure of children to kids meals at fast food restaurants is high; however, the nutrient quality of such meals has not been systematically assessed.

Objective: We assessed the nutrient quality of fast food meals marketed to young children, ie, "kids meals."

Design: The nutrient quality of kids meals was assessed primarily by using criteria from the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).