Women's physical activity and eating habits: Influence of work-family balance

描述(申请人提供)：体力活动和饮食习惯被认为在几种慢性疾病中起作用，它们被认为是过早死亡的主要原因之一。尽管采取了广泛的公共卫生举措，但促进健康体育活动和饮食习惯的努力收效甚微，特别是在育儿年龄较早的妇女以及黑人妇女和几乎没有受过正规教育的妇女中。该项目的目标是确定在以工作场所为基础的干预措施中以工作和家庭平衡为目标的价值，旨在促进健康的身体活动和饮食习惯。该项目旨在实现主要的具体目标：1)确定难以平衡工作和家庭(例如，高度的工作和家庭冲突)是否预测女性的体力活动水平(例如，每天的步数)和不健康的饮食行为(例如，更多地使用商业准备的食物)；以及2)确定个人内部工作和家庭平衡对体力活动和不健康饮食行为的影响是否因种族或教育程度而不同。此外，该项目旨在实现两个次要目标：3)评估工作与家庭平衡对身体活动和不健康饮食习惯的影响在多大程度上受到时间供应和心理压力的解释(即中介)；4)确定对家庭友好的工作特征是否与身体活动和饮食习惯有关。该项目的目标将通过收集400名女性的重复测量数据来实现，这些女性按种族和教育程度分层，她们最大的孩子年龄在4岁至9岁之间。该项目遵循一个概念框架，认为女性，尤其是黑人女性和那些受教育程度较低的人，将工作和家庭生活置于自我照顾之上。数据将在一年中的4个时间点收集，以捕捉女性生活中的自然节奏，包括她们孩子的学校时间表(例如，假期)强加的节奏。分析将使用通用线性混合模型方法来确定工作和家庭平衡的人内差异是否与女性身体活动和饮食习惯的人内差异有关。公共卫生相关性：这项研究的结果可用于改善公众健康。具体地说，调查结果将提供可用于制定就业政策的新信息，例如那些专注于限制长时间工作的政策，或者那些促进雇主使用灵活工作时间的政策。这一结果还可以用来为旨在促进健康体育活动和饮食习惯的工作场所计划提供参考。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Physical activity and eating habits are believed to play a role in several chronic conditions, and they are claimed to be among the major causes of premature death. Despite widespread public health initiatives, attempts to promote healthy physical activity and eating habits have met with limited success, particularly among women of early child-rearing age as well as Black women and women with little formal education. The goal of this project is to determine the value of targeting work-family balance in workplace-based interventions designed to promote healthy physical activity and eating habits. This project is designed to accomplish to primary specific aims: 1) determine if difficulty balancing work and family (e.g., high work-family conflict) predicts women's level of physical activity (e.g., number of steps per day) and unhealthy eating behaviors (e.g., greater use of commercially-prepared foods); and 2) determine if within-person effects of work-family balance on physical activity and unhealthy eating behaviors differ by race or educational attainment. Additionally, the project was designed to accomplish two secondary aims: 3) evaluate the degree to which the effects of work-family balance on physical activity and unhealthy eating habits are explained (i.e., mediated) by time availability and psychological strain; and 4) determine if family-friendly work characteristics are associated with physical activity and eating habits. The aims of the project will be accomplished by collected repeated-measures data from a cohort of 400 women, stratified by race and educational attainment, and whose oldest child is aged 4 to 9. The project is guided by a conceptual framework arguing that women, particularly Black women and those with little education prioritize their work and family lives over their own self care. Data will be collected at 4 points across one year to capture natural rhythms in women's lives, including those imposed by their child's school schedule (e.g., holiday breaks). Analyses will use a General Linear Mixed Model approach to determine if within-person variation in work-family balance is associated with within-person variation in women's physical activity and eating habits. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The results of this study can be used to improve pubic health. Specifically, the results will provide new information that can be used to shape employment policies, such as those focused on curbing long work hours or those that promote employers' use of flexible scheduling. The results can also be used to inform workplace programs designed to promote healthy physical activity and eating habits.