(P02-037-25) Socioeconomic and Racial Differences in Stress as a Barrier to Healthy Eating Intention

Objectives: Intention to eat healthy is a strong predictor of consuming a healthy diet. Increasing rates of diet-related diseases in the U.S. underscore the need to improve understanding of barriers to healthy eating intention, particularly among socially and economically marginalized groups. This study advances existing literature on healthy eating intention by examining associations between perceived stress and intention to eat by race, ethnicity, and annual household income.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was completed online in 2024 by 1,517 adults (mean age: 49.75; 52.43% female) living in the U.S. Participants reported their demographic and socio-economic information and completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). We employed logistic regression models to evaluate associations between PSS score and having intentions to eat healthy in the next two months while controlling for significant covariates. Further, we used stratified regression models to assess whether stress influenced odds of reporting intention to eat healthy across race, ethnicity, and income categories.

Results: Descriptive analyses revealed that 778 (49.43%) participants reported having intentions to eat healthy. Individuals in the highest stress quartile had lower odds of reporting healthy eating intention compared to those in the lowest quartile (OR: 0.52; 95% CI: 0.37 – 0.73). Analyses stratified by race revealed that White adults reporting high stress had lower odds of reporting healthy eating intention (OR: 0.43; 95% CI: 0.28 – 0.66). Stress was not associated with healthy eating intention among Black adults. Analyses stratified by ethnicity indicated that high stress was associated with lower odds of reporting healthy eating intention among non-Hispanic adults only (OR: 0.48; 95% CI: 0.33-0.70). Income-stratified analyses indicated associations between high PSS and lower odds of reporting healthy eating intention among adults with incomes ≤$39.9k and $60k-$79.9k.

Conclusions: Stress is associated with healthy eating intention among this diverse population; however, differences in associations were observed by race, ethnicity, and income.

Funding Sources: This work is funded by the National Institute for Minority Health & Health Disparities.