Ethnic Differences in Social Correlates of Diet

Little is known about whether culture influences social correlates of dietary behaviors. Questionnaires on parent- and child-reported family and peer influences on children's fruit, juice and vegetable consumption were analyzed for ethnic group differences in responses. Grade 4-6 students completed the questionnaires in the classroom and their parents completed telephone or in-home interviews. Analyses of variance across ethnic categories and chi2 analysis of differences in ethnic group composition between clusters of scales were conducted. Few ethnic group differences were detected, suggesting substantial commonality among respondents. Ethnic differences might be accommodated by interventions tailored to particular behaviors among ethnic groups.