Health behaviors, such as participating in physical activity and consumption of healthy food, are most often thought to facilitate optimal health outcomes and contribute to the prevention of numerous chronic diseases. The development of health-promoting behaviors can begin at an early age and these behaviors have the potential to impact a child’s health over their lifetime. As a precursor to consumption of food and the development of preferences for certain foods, food purchase is an important health behavior. The present dissertation research aimed to identify factors that influence food purchase for families with young children, and further, to understand if family communication patterns play a role in the ways families communicate about food. Three studies were conducted to address these aims. An online questionnaire focused on food purchase influences, food purchase discussion, and family communications patterns was administered to the primary food shopper for families with elementary school-aged children living in the United States. The first study utilized data from this online questionnaire to determine the factors most frequently influencing food purchase and to determine the association between income and the influence of certain factors on food purchase. The second study also used data from the questionnaire and identified the frequency of food purchase discussion within the sample, as well as the association between income and high levels of conversation. STATA 16 data analysis software was utilized to perform logistic regression and calculate unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals for each of the first two studies. The third study utilized qualitative interviews of questionnaire participants from each of the four family communication pattern types to collect data and thematic analysis was used to determine how families with children communicate about food or other purchases. Participants in the online questionnaire reported availability, buyer preference, household preferences, and convenience as most frequently influencing their food purchases of both fruits/vegetables and “junk” food, or food generally considered non-health promoting. For fruits and vegetable purchases, there was a statistically significantly increased odds of marketing as an influence in households with income of less than $50,000 9.01compared with households with an income of $100,000 or more (OR=9.01; 95% CI: 4.06, 20.01), and the association was attenuated, but remained statistically significant when adjusting for numerous demographic characteristics (AOR=7.56; 95% CI: 2.15, 26.52). Additionally, households in the lowest income group had statistically significantly increased odds of food quantity influencing fruit/vegetable purchases when compared to the highest income group, although, findings were no longer statistically significant after adjustment for marital status, education, and age. (OR=2.66; 95% CI: 1.05, 6.74 and AOR=1.27; 95% CI: 0.26, 6.14). There were similar associations for “junk” food, in that the lowest income group had increased odds of marketing (OR=4.21; 95% CI: 1.91, 9.30 and AOR=2.21; 95% CI: 0.77, 6.36) and food quantity (OR=2.53; 95% CI: 1.16, 5.52 and AOR=4.05; 95% CI: 1.08, 15.23) influencing their purchasing when compared to the highest income group, although adjusted results were only statistically significant for the food quantity outcome. For “junk food”, the lowest income group also had increased odds of food beliefs influencing their purchase compared to those with incomes $100,000 or more (OR=3.02; 95% CI:1.39, 6.60 and AOR=2.42; 95% CI: 0.79, 7.43).
