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Nutrient Intake Of Working Mothers: Relationships With The Family Environment
Author(s) -
Pratt Charlotte,
Doyle Margaret
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
home economics research journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.372
H-Index - 31
eISSN - 1552-3934
pISSN - 0046-7774
DOI - 10.1177/1077727x8801600401
Subject(s) - family environment scale , nutrient , calorie , religious orientation , environmental health , psychology , cohesion (chemistry) , social psychology , demography , developmental psychology , medicine , biology , sociology , endocrinology , chemistry , ecology , organic chemistry
The relationships of family environment to frequency of food use and nutrient intakes were investigated among a purposive sample of working mothers in Min neapolis, Minnesota. The family environment scale which measured cohesion, expressiveness, conflict, intellectual‐cultural orientation, morals and religious emphasis, organization, and control in the family was used to measure the social environment of the mothers. A 24‐hour recall was used to estimate intake of calories, protein, calcium, iron, vitamins A and C of the working mothers. Data on frequency of food use were also collected and converted into food‐use fre quency scores. Nutrient adequacy was determined by percent RDA and an overall index of adequacy: mean nutrient adequacy ratio or MAR. Pearson corre lation coefficients were used to estimate the relationships among family environ ment, nutrient intakes, and food‐use frequency scores. The family environment scores indicated that mothers were from highly cohesive families and had a strong intellectual‐cultural orientation. Analysis of the data on nutrient intake indicated that 69 percent and 41 percent of the respondents consumed 66.9 per cent or less of the RDA for iron and calcium, respectively. Overall nutrient ade quacy (MAR) correlated negatively with moral and religious orientation of the family. Significant negative relationships were found among vitamin C intake and cohesion and expressiveness, while positive relationships occurred among vi tamin A intake and intellectual‐cultural orientation and organization in the family. The magnitude of the correlation coefficients was, however, small in all cases, indicating weak relationships. In addition, other investigated relationships were not significant.