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Home / American Journal of Health Behavior, Volume 36, Number 5

Perceived Influences on Diet Among Urban, Low-income African Americans

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Objectives: To understand perceived influences on consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fast foods for urban, low-income African Americans. Methods: Semi-structured interviews with 33 African American adults from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, using continuous, iterative, thematic analysis. Results: Influences on dietary behaviors that emerged included economic considerations; food characteristics; health concerns and health effects; participants' personal influences; social and cultural influences; neighborhood, home, and work environments; and broader contextual influences. There were important differences by age group and gender. Conclusion: Strategies to improve dietary patterns in urban, low-income, African-American communities might make use of overall and age- and gender-specific perspectives from within the community we report.

Keywords: AFRICAN AMERICAN; FAST FOOD; FRUITS AND VEGETABLES; INCOME; QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; URBAN

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Family and Social Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA. [email protected] 2: Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA 3: Department of Family and Social Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA 4: University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA 5: Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Veterans Affairs Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP), Philadelphia, PA, USA

Publication date: 01 September 2012

More about this publication?

  • The American Journal of Health Behavior seeks to improve the quality of life through multidisciplinary health efforts in fostering a better understanding of the multidimensional nature of both individuals and social systems as they relate to health behaviors.

    The Journal aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the impact of personal attributes, personality characteristics, behavior patterns, social structure, and processes on health maintenance, health restoration, and health improvement; to disseminate knowledge of holistic, multidisciplinary approaches to designing and implementing effective health programs; and to showcase health behavior analysis skills that have been proven to affect health improvement and recovery.

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