Exploring time use and the geography of food-related behaviours in four Canadian cities

Keywords: food-related behaviours, food environments, time use, family context
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 03:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 05:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 44

Abstract

Past research has shown that dietary behaviours are impacted by a range of social, spatial, and economic factors. The focus of these papers tends to ignore how the interrelationships between social and familial networks, environmental context and time use affect activities related to food.

To address this gap in the literature, a survey of 1778 parents living in four Canadian census metropolitan areas (Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Halifax) was distributed from September to October of 2021. Respondents answered questions about their dietary and food-related behaviours, how their family members engage in dietary and food-related behaviours, time use and feelings of time pressure, geography and transportation, self-reported health, and socioeconomic status. Using these data, we will explore 1) how the residential built environment relates to the time spent on various food-related behaviours, and 2) whether family structure significantly affects in and out of home food chores and diet.

Through the use of this novel space-time conceptualization, our findings will be able to inform policy as well as help in better understanding how complex factors affect everyday food behaviours.