Parent attitudes and behaviors associated with household food security among rural lower income families

Objective: To examine associations between Theory of Planned Behavior constructs related to parent engagement in health-promoting behaviors and food resource management with household food security status. Methods: A cross-sectional secondary analysis of baseline data from 1622 parents enrolled in the ENCIRCLE study, a pragmatic cluster-randomized controlled trial to prevent obesity among preschool-aged children from rural lower-income families. Logistic regression models examined associations between parent engagement in health-promoting behaviors (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control) and food resource management (self-confidence, behaviors) with household food security status. Results: Parents with greater perceived behavioral control (OR=1.44, CI:1.14-1.82) and food resource management self-confidence (OR=2.08, CI:1.80-2.41) had significantly higher odds of experiencing household food security in adjusted models. Conclusions and Implications: Findings suggest that perceived behavioral control and food resource management self-confidence may help safeguard lower-income families. Health promotion efforts should target these factors to help parents engage in health-promoting behaviors during times of economic hardship.