Predictors of Fat Intake Behavior Differ Between Normal-Weight and Obese WIC Mothers

Purpose: To determine whether predictors of fat intake behavior were the same for normal-weight and obese WIC mothers when applying the PRECEDE-PROCEED model and to identify predictors for each group.

Design: Proportional stratified convenience sampling.

Subjects: Five hundred eighty-one nonpregnant, black and white normal-weight (n = 180) or obese (n = 401) women.

Settings: The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children in six counties in southern Wisconsin.

Measures: The independent variables were predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors. Predisposing factors included beliefs in diet and health, beliefs in diet and body shape, health concerns in food choice, health concerns in nutrition, and eating habits. Enabling factors were cost of food, availability of time to prepare food, and accessibility to purchase food. Reinforcing factors were weight control intentions, sensory appeal, and mood. The dependent variable was fat intake behavior. Structural equation modeling was performed.

Results: When controlling for covariates, certain factors affecting fat intake behavior differed between the normal-weight and the obese groups. For the normal-weight group, only reinforcing factors were positively associated with fat intake behavior For the obese group, reinforcing and enabling, but not predisposing, factors were positively associated with fat intake behavior.

Conclusions: Interventions to modify low-income women’s fat intake behavior might benefit from targeting behavioral predictors that differ with body size. Messages that emphasize weight control intentions, sensory appeal, and mood are likely to affect both normal weight and obese women. Information about cost of food, availability of time to prepare food, and accessibility to purchase food is likely to be more effective with obese women.