Health Knowledge and Nutritional Adequacy of Female Heads of Households in the United States

Female-headed households—consumer units with a female reference person, with or without children, and with no spouse—are a growing segment of the U.S. population. Data from a recent consumption survey (CSFII-89) are used to identify the socioeconomic determinants of nutritional adequacy for this group. Nonparametric procedures are used to select a parametric model that best describes the data. The results indicate that education, health (nutrition) knowledge, income, and degree of urbanization are important predictors of the overall nutritional status of this population. Among these, health knowledge is the most significant, suggesting that improving such knowledge could lead to more informed decisions and an enhancement of diet quality. Perceptions, demographic variables, time use, and spatial indicators are found to be less important predictors of intake.