Gender Differences in Social Desirability and Social Approval Bias in Dietary Self-report

Hébert, James R.; Ma, Yunsheng; Clemow, Lynn; Ockene, Ira S.; Saperia, Gordon M.; Stanek, Edward J.; Merriam, Philip A.; Ockene, Judith K.

doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a009233

Cited by 433 publications

(307 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Previous research with adults has identified respondent characteristics associated with systematic bias in food frequency responses relative to 24-hour dietary recalls (3)(4)(5). The results presented in this article show that, at least in fourth-grade children, cognitive ability is a potential source of systematic bias in the standard itself.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

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Relation of Children's Dietary Reporting Accuracy to Cognitive Ability

Smith¹,

Baxter²,

Hardin³

et al. 2010

American Journal of Epidemiology

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A validation study of children's dietary reporting provided an opportunity to investigate whether cognitive ability is a source of systematic error in dietary recalls. From the fall of 2004 through the spring of 2007, fourth-grade children (n ¼ 374) in Columbia, South Carolina, were observed eating school meals and interviewed to obtain 24-hour dietary recalls; subsequently, measures of dietary reporting error were calculated. The common factor extracted from 4 subject-area achievement tests (scores on which were provided by the school district for 362 children) was used as a measure of cognitive ability. For the 325 children who reported school meals that met the criteria to be reports about school meals, as cognitive ability increased, dietary reporting error decreased; the relation between cognitive ability and dietary reporting performance was stronger among girls than among boys. The mean cognitive ability for 37 children who reported no meals that satisfied the criteria for being reports about school meals was significantly lower than that for the 325 children who reported meals that satisfied these criteria. These findings indicate that cognitive ability is a source of systematic error in children's dietary recalls. More generally, the quality of epidemiologic survey data may depend systematically on the cognitive ability of respondents.bias (epidemiology); child; diet surveys; intelligence; mental recall Abbreviation: PACT, Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests.Much of epidemiologic data consists of individuals' selfreports about past behaviors. In national health surveys, research questionnaires, and clinical assessment instruments, individuals are asked to report about such behaviors as dietary intake, physical activity, medical visits, and use of mobile telephones.Error in self-reports about these behaviors may be random or systematic. Larger random errors reduce the power of studies to detect relations between reported behaviors and outcomes (e.g., between reported intake of some food and health status); systematic errors may exaggerate or mask relations (1, 2). Systematic error may be associated with, and therefore predictable from, stable characteristics of respondents. For example, the accuracy of dietary and physical activity self-reports is related to such personality characteristics as social desirability and social approval motivation (3-5).To answer questions about past behaviors accurately, an individual must retrieve appropriate information from memory and utilize that information to formulate responses.Memory is a component of cognitive ability (6), so reporting accuracy may be related to cognitive ability, and cognitive ability may be a source of systematic error in epidemiologic data.There is little published research on the relation between cognitive ability and dietary reporting accuracy in either children or adults, and the results of extant research are mixed. Some studies of adults have examined the relation of dietary reporting accuracy to educational attainment, a rough proxy for c...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…Systematic error may be associated with, and therefore predictable from, stable characteristics of respondents. For example, the accuracy of dietary and physical activity self-reports is related to such personality characteristics as social desirability and social approval motivation (3)(4)(5).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Relation of Children's Dietary Reporting Accuracy to Cognitive Ability

Smith¹,

Baxter²,

Hardin³

et al. 2010

American Journal of Epidemiology

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“…In order to increase the accuracy of dietary reports, participants were given a validated two-dimensional food portion visual and received 10-15 min of training on how to use it to estimate portion sizes of commonly eaten foods (46) . To help account for dietary misreporting, social desirability and social approval were also considered in the analysis as these have been shown to bias dietary assessment (30)(31)(32)(33) . In addition, calculated energy requirements were included as a covariate in order to adjust for misreporting of overall dietary intake.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is nutrient intake associated with physical activity levels in healthy young adults?

Yan¹,

Drenowatz²,

Hand³

et al. 2016

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: Both physical activity (PA) and diet are important contributors to health and well-being; however, there is limited information on the association of these behaviours and whether observed associations differ by weight. The present study aimed to evaluate whether nutrient intake is associated with PA and if this association varies by weight in young adults. Design: Cross-sectional study to analyse the association between PA and nutrient intake. Setting: Participants were stratified as normal weight (18·5 kg/m 2 < BMI < 25·0 kg/m 2 ) and overweight/obese (BMI ≥ 25·0 kg/m 2 ). PA level (PAL) was calculated (PAL = total daily energy expenditure/RMR) and used to stratify groups (PAL < 1·6, 1·6 ≤ PAL < 1·9, PAL ≥ 1·9). Subjects: Adults (n 407; age 27·6 (SD 3·8) years, 48 % male), with BMI between 20 and 35 kg/m 2 , having at least two 24 h diet recalls and at least 5 d (including two weekend days) of valid, objectively measured PA data were included in the analysis. Results: In normal-weight participants, higher PAL was associated with higher intakes of minerals (except Ca, Fe and Zn), B-vitamins and choline (P for trend <0·05). In the overweight/obese group, higher PAL was associated with higher intakes of fibre, K, Na and Cu (P for trend <0·05). These differences, however, were no longer significant after additionally controlling for total energy intake. Conclusions: More active young adults have higher intakes of essential micronutrients. The benefits of PA may be predominantly due to a higher overall food intake while maintaining energy balance rather than a healthier diet.

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“…Some of the correlation between self-reported instruments may be attributable to within-person error (32) . The accuracy of self-reported alcohol intake is likely to be influenced by social desirability (33,34) , memory (34,35) and estimation of portion size when non-standard servings are consumed or when a drink is re-filled before it is fully emptied. However, the similarity between the estimates obtained with the HLQ and FFQ with respect to the 7DD suggests that limitations of participant's memory or ability to estimate average intake were not highly influential in the present analysis of CHD and alcohol intake.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CHD risk in relation to alcohol intake from categorical and open-ended dietary instruments

Ward

Luben

Wareham

et al. 2010

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To examine the risk of CHD in relation to alcohol intake from three different instruments. Design: In the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer in Norfolk study, weekly alcohol intake was estimated from a single question in a mail-in health and lifestyle questionnaire (HLQ), a semi-quantitative FFQ, and a 7 d diet diary (7DD). Information on smoking status, physical activity, disease history, social class and medication use was reported in the HLQ. Height, weight, blood pressure and blood lipids were measured at a health check-up. The average length of follow-up was 11 years. The association between alcohol intake and incident fatal and non-fatal CHD in a nested case-control sample was calculated using logistic regression. Setting: Norfolk, England. Subjects: A total of 2151 cases of incident fatal and non-fatal CHD and 5354 controls. Results: The Spearman correlation values between the 7DD, FFQ and HLQ alcohol estimates ranged from r 5 0?70 to 0?82 (P , 0?0001 for all r values). Alcohol intake from all instruments was inversely associated with the risk of CHD in age-and multivariate-adjusted models. The relationships between the risk of CHD and alcohol intake from the 7DD, HLQ or FFQ were not significantly different from each other (P . 0?10). A marginal difference between men and women was detected for the risk of CHD in relation to HLQ alcohol intake (P 5 0?065). Conclusions: In conclusion, while the instruments were not uniform in their assessment of alcohol intake levels, the 7DD, HLQ and FFQ yielded similar inverse associations between alcohol intake and risk of CHD.

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Gender Differences in Social Desirability and Social Approval Bias in Dietary Self-report

Cited by 433 publications

References 39 publications

Relation of Children's Dietary Reporting Accuracy to Cognitive Ability

Relation of Children's Dietary Reporting Accuracy to Cognitive Ability

Is nutrient intake associated with physical activity levels in healthy young adults?

CHD risk in relation to alcohol intake from categorical and open-ended dietary instruments

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