Testing the Importance of Family Solidarity, Community Structure, Information Access, and Social Capital in Predicting Nutrition Health Knowledge and Food Choices in the Philippines

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of family solidarity, community structure, information access, social capital, and socioeconomic status on the extent of nutrition and health knowledge (NHK) among primary household meal planners. In turn, we pose the question: does this knowledge influence dietary decision making? Data are taken from a survey determining socioeconomic impacts of vitamin A fortified peanut butter on Philippine households. Questions on the relationships of nutrition to health were selected to construct a knowledge index on which household respondents could be ranked. We then tested hypotheses regarding what types of individual, family-level, and community structural characteristics would predict performance on this index. The results indicate that the strongest predictors of NHK come from sociological theory related to family solidarity and community centrality, in addition to information accessibility and household income. Our findings also indicate that NHK influences dietary choices with regard to the purchase of a vitamin fortified staple food product, which is essential when addressing nutritional deficiency problems in developing countries.

Keywords:

• nutrition and health knowledge
• family solidarity
• community structure
• information access
• social capital
• adoption and diffusion
• developing countries

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the US/AID Peanut Collaborative Research Support Program through a University of Georgia subgrant (no. RC710-013/4092104) to North Carolina State University.