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Sandwiching it in: spillover of work onto food choices and family roles in low- and moderate-income urban households

Author

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  • Devine, Carol M.
  • Connors, Margaret M.
  • Sobal, Jeffery
  • Bisogni, Carole A.

Abstract

Lower status jobs, high workloads and lack of control at work have been associated with less healthful diets, but the ways through which work is connected to food choices are not well understood. This analysis was an examination of workers' experience of the relationship of their jobs to their food choices. Fifty-one multi-ethnic, urban, low- and moderate-income adults living in Upstate New York in 1995 participated in a qualitative interview study of fruit and vegetable choices and discussed employment and food choices. The workers who participated in this study described a dynamic relationship between work and food choices that they experienced in the context of their other roles and values. These workers presented a relationship that was characterized by positive and negative spillover between their jobs and their ability to fulfill family roles and promote personal health, linked by a spectrum of food choice strategies. Participants' narratives fit into three different domains: characterizations of work and their resources for food choice, strategies used to manage food choices within the constraints of work, and affect related to the negative and positive spillover of these strategies on family roles and on personal food choices. Characterizations of work as demanding and limiting or demanding and manageable differentiated participants who experienced their food choice strategies as a source of guilt and dissatisfaction (negative spillover) from those who experienced food choices as a source of pride and satisfaction (positive spillover). Ideals and values related to food choice and health were balanced against other values for family closeness and nurturing and personal achievement. Some participants found work unproblematic. These findings direct attention to a broad conceptualization of the relationship of work to food choices in which the demands and resources of the work role are viewed as they spill over into the social and temporal context of other roles and values.

Suggested Citation

  • Devine, Carol M. & Connors, Margaret M. & Sobal, Jeffery & Bisogni, Carole A., 2003. "Sandwiching it in: spillover of work onto food choices and family roles in low- and moderate-income urban households," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 617-630, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:56:y:2003:i:3:p:617-630
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    Cited by:

    1. Jean-Claude Moubarac & Margaret Cargo & Olivier Receveur & Mark Daniel, 2012. "Describing the Situational Contexts of Sweetened Product Consumption in a Middle Eastern Canadian Community: Application of a Mixed Method Design," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 7(9), pages 1-10, September.
    2. Natasha Stoudmann & Lena M. Reibelt & Christian A. Kull & Claude A. Garcia & Mirana Randriamalala & Patrick O. Waeber, 2019. "Biting the Bullet: Dealing with the Annual Hunger Gap in the Alaotra, Madagascar," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-18, April.
    3. Bauer, Katherine W. & Hearst, Mary O. & Escoto, Kamisha & Berge, Jerica M. & Neumark-Sztainer, Dianne, 2012. "Parental employment and work-family stress: Associations with family food environments," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 496-504.
    4. Burlinson, Andrew & Davillas, Apostolos & Law, Cherry, 2022. "Pay (for it) as you go: Prepaid energy meters and the heat-or-eat dilemma," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 315(C).
    5. Sheely, Amanda, 2022. "More than money? Job quality and food insecurity among employed lone mother households in the United States," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 112504, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Alisha Coleman-Jensen, 2011. "Working for Peanuts: Nonstandard Work and Food Insecurity Across Household Structure," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(1), pages 84-97, March.
    7. Patrick O Waeber & Lucienne Wilmé & Jean-Roger Mercier & Christian Camara & Porter P Lowry II, 2016. "How Effective Have Thirty Years of Internationally Driven Conservation and Development Efforts Been in Madagascar?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(8), pages 1-13, August.
    8. Devine, Carol M. & Jastran, Margaret & Jabs, Jennifer & Wethington, Elaine & Farell, Tracy J. & Bisogni, Carole A., 2006. ""A lot of sacrifices:" Work-family spillover and the food choice coping strategies of low-wage employed parents," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 63(10), pages 2591-2603, November.
    9. Elena Santiago & Virginia Quick & Melissa Olfert & Carol Byrd-Bredbenner, 2023. "Relationships of Maternal Employment and Work Impact with Weight-Related Behaviors and Home Environments of Mothers and Their School-Age Children," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(14), pages 1-20, July.
    10. Berta Schnettler & Edgardo Miranda-Zapata & Germán Lobos & Mahia Saracostti & Marianela Denegri & María Lapo & Clementina Hueche, 2018. "The Mediating Role of Family and Food-Related Life Satisfaction in the Relationships between Family Support, Parent Work-Life Balance and Adolescent Life Satisfaction in Dual-Earner Families," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-18, November.
    11. Nelson, Candace C. & Sapp, Amy & Berkman, Lisa F. & Li, Yi & Sorensen, Glorian, 2011. "Allocation of household responsibilities influences change in dietary behavior," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(10), pages 1517-1524.
    12. Richard Dunn, 2015. "Labor supply and household meal production among working adults in the Health and Retirement Survey," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 437-457, June.
    13. Brent Berry & Taralyn McMullen, 2008. "Visual communication to children in the supermarket context: Health protective or exploitive?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 25(3), pages 333-348, September.
    14. Kolodinsky, Jane M. & Castle, Jeffrey, 2014. "Mother/Child Eating and Drinking Patterns by Weight and Ethnicity," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 169803, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    15. Berta Schnettler & Edgardo Miranda-Zapata & Klaus G. Grunert & Germán Lobos & María Lapo & Clementina Hueche, 2021. "Testing the Spillover-Crossover Model between Work-Life Balance and Satisfaction in Different Domains of Life in Dual-Earner Households," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 1475-1501, August.
    16. Moen, Phyllis & Fan, Wen & Kelly, Erin L., 2013. "Team-level flexibility, work–home spillover, and health behavior," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 69-79.

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