Carol Byrd-Bredbenner

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey | Rutgers · Department of Nutritional Sciences

Objective: Explore the relationship between fruit and vegetable (FV) intake and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in undergraduates. Participants: Undergraduates (N = 655). Methods: Using the Centers for Disease Control's Healthy Days Core Module and National Cancer Institute's (NCI) FV screener, differences in HRQOL between students who had c...

The prevalence of obesity continues to rise. Preventing obesity, especially childhood obesity, is critically important. Parents, especially mothers, play a vital role in preventing childhood obesity. Numerous factors, such as maternal employment, may influence maternal weight-related practices and home environment characteristics that affect the ri...

Objective: Assess the health-related quality of life (HRQOL), diet quality (DQ), and weight dissatisfaction in sexual minority (SM) undergraduates. Methods: Undergraduates (n = 690) at 2 universities completed a survey assessing HRQOL, body mass index, DQ, and weight dissatisfaction. A multivariate analysis of covariance assessed HRQOL between S...

This study aimed to develop a questionnaire to assess male and female athletes’ perceived weight and shape pressure from coaches and establish its psychometric properties. Exploratory factor analysis (N = 412 in each female sample 1 and 2) provided evidence for 4 scales for female athletes and 3 scales for male athletes which were confirmed in conf...

Women experience anxiety, depression, and stress at higher levels than men and have more parenting responsibilities, especially establishing health practices in the home. Given children’s vulnerability, this study aimed to increase understanding of how mothers’ mental health status relates to maternal weight-related cognitions, home food environmen...

Body dissatisfaction is a common condition that poses health behavior risks, such as the use of maladaptive eating styles instead of adaptive eating styles. Few studies have simultaneously examined both adaptive and maladaptive eating styles and their association with body dissatisfaction in a comprehensive manner. To address this gap, this study e...

Families are a key provider of support that may encourage positive weight-related behaviors. Yet little is known about the relation of family support to children’s performance of weight-related behaviors. Mothers (N = 524) who completed an online survey were categorized as having low, moderate, or high family support for fruit/vegetable intake, bre...

Background Twenty percent of school-aged children had obesity in the United States. Many lifestyle behaviors, including diet and exercise are contributors to childhood obesity. The HomeStyles intervention research team developed eight lifestyle guides to address many lifestyle behaviors for school-age children including sleep, fruit and vegetable i...

Objective To create a tool to measure college students’ functional, interactive, and critical nutrition literacy. Design (1) Focus group: item generation, (2) expert review, (3) exploratory factor structure analysis, (4) item refinement and modification, (5) factor structure validation, and (6) criterion validation. Setting Two land-grant college...

Background Childhood obesity prevention efforts are needed in the United States, especially for families with low income. The purpose of this study is to determine whether HomeStyles-2, a nutrition education and childhood obesity prevention program for families with children in middle childhood (ages 6 to 11 years), motivates parents to re-shape th...

BACKGROUND Families are a key provider of support that may encourage positive weight-related behaviors. Yet, little is known about the relation of family support to children’s performance of weight-related behaviors. OBJECTIVE The objective of this exploratory secondary analysis was to investigate the associations between family social support for...

Background Parents are children's primary role models, are food and physical activity gatekeepers, and create the home structure/lifestyle environment. Thus, parents strongly influence children's weight-related behaviors and have the opportunity to cultivate a “culture of health” within the home. Yet, there is a dearth of evidence-based obesity pre...

Objectives Little is known about how anxiety and depression in combination relate to eating disorder concerns (eating, shape, and weight concern) and behaviors (restraint eating, binge eating, and purging) indicative of eating disorder symptom severity. This study examined links among disordered eating concerns, behaviors, and severity clustered by...

Limited research has examined athletes’ food and health beliefs and decisions and the congruence of these decisions with recommendations from nutrition professionals. This study aimed to improve understanding of athletes’ food-related beliefs and practices to enable nutrition professionals to more effectively enhance performance while protecting at...

Objectives The objective was to explore the influence of health behaviors on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among college undergraduate students. Methods A convenience sample of college students completed an online survey consisting of the Center for Disease Control's HRQOL modules, perceived stress scale, sleep questionnaire, and the Nati...

Objectives The objective was to examine the relationship between grit and health outcomes in college undergraduate students. Methods A cross-sectional convenience sample of college undergraduate students completed an online survey assessing Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL), the National Cancer Institute Fruit and Vegetable Screener, and the...

Objectives The objective was to examine the relationship between intuitive eating behavior and weight satisfaction in college students. Methods A cross-sectional convenience sample of college students completed an online survey that evaluated frequency of intuitive eating, weight satisfaction (happy/neutral/upset), and Health-Related Quality of Li...

Objectives The objective was to examine differences in Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) in sexual minority (SM) college undergraduate students compared to their heterosexual peers. Methods A cross sectional convenience sample of college undergraduate students completed an online survey that assessed HRQOL, demographics, and height/weight. Bo...

Family social capital includes the social relationships, values, and norms shared by a family and is positively linked with children's mental and physical health status. This cross-sectional study addresses a gap in the literature related to family social capital vis-à-vis weight-related behaviors and home environments of 557 mothers and their youn...

BACKGROUND: Critical nutrition literacy (CNL) plays an important role in how college students make everyday decisions about nutrition choices. Increasing CNL is an aim of many introductory nutrition courses, but there are limited instruments measuring this construct. This study aimed to assess the changeability of CNL and the relationship between C...

Hispanic mothers and children in the United States experience a high prevalence of obesity, which may be affected by maternal acculturation level. Little is known about the association of acculturation on weight-related behaviors. This study describes differences in weight-related behaviors by acculturation level of Hispanic mothers residing in the...

Objective The Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7 & GAD-2) scales are reliable and valid instruments for assessing generalized anxiety symptoms in the general and clinical populations. However, little attention has been given to the psychometric qualities of GAD-7 and reduced length versions in a diverse sample of young adult college students strat...

Objectives: In this study, we explored associations between daily "hassles" (irritating inconveniences) and obesogenic health behaviors of college students. Methods: Students (N = 406, 62% female) completed a survey including the 5-point Brief College Student Hassle Scale which quantifies hassles experienced in the last month in 9 domains (eg, prep...

This cross-sectional study compared weight-related cognitions, behaviors, and home environments of 568 mothers of young children (ages 2 to <9 years) by racial/ethnic group. Maternal health status was good and did not differ by race/ethnicity. Mothers were somewhat confident in their ability to promote healthy physical activity and eating behaviors...

Background: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is common in young adults, yet few studies have established the psychometric properties of the GAD-7 screener in college students. Methods: A secondary analysis of three studies was conducted to determine GAD-7 factor structure stability, create a GAD-Mini version using standard procedures, and evaluat...

Objectives: College students have high risk of anxiety and weight gain. Understanding how executive function traits, especially with trait anxiety, associates with weight-related behaviors could indicate strategies for improving obesity prevention programs. In this study, we examined links between weight-related behaviors of undergraduate students...

Because diet quality (DQ) is associated with risk of chronic disease and is a common construct assessed in health-related research, validated tools to assess DQ are needed that have low respondent and researcher burden. Thus, content experts develop the Short Healthy Eating Index (sHEI) tool and an associated scoring system. The sHEI scoring system...

Mothers of young children tend to report poor-quality sleep, yet little is known about links between maternal sleep quality and weight-related behaviors and parenting practices. Thus, mothers of preschoolers completed an online cross-sectional survey assessing their sleep, physical activity, dietary behaviors, eating styles, child feeding practices...

Background Limited research has examined athletes’ food and health beliefs and decisions and the congruence of these decisions with recommendations from nutrition professionals. This study aimed to improve understanding of athletes’ food-related beliefs and practices to enable nutrition professionals to more effectively enhance performance while pr...

Communicating scientific results with community partners is often lacking in intervention programs, thus eB4CAST was developed to facilitate impact sharing. This article investigated using the eB4CAST dissemination tool to communicate impact from a campus-based obesity prevention program. Data from Get Fruved RCT university sites collected at basel...

Objective To refine and psychometrically validate the Revised Critical Nutrition Literacy Tool in a young adult sample. Methods Young adults recruited from 3 universities completed the 11-item Critical Nutrition Literacy Tool claims scale. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and item response theory were used to valida...

This study explored the differences in weight-related characteristics when socioeconomic status (SES) was assessed by economic, cultural, social, and environmental-health capital individually and as a composite with the goal of determining the stability of differences across types of capital and to ascertain whether single or a combination of capit...

Objective: To explore parenting advice children would provide to help parents encourage positive health-related behaviors by children. Design: Focus group discussions were conducted, and children shared the advice they would provide parents to help them encourage healthy weight-related behaviors (ie, diet, physical activity, and sleep) for child...

Objective: To create a tool to measure college students' perception of the healthfulness of their environment. Design: (1) Item generation, (2) cognitive interview testing and exploratory factor analysis, (3) item refinement/modification, (4) factor structure validation, and (5) criterion validation. Setting: Ten college campuses. Participant...

Despite the many benefits of regular breakfast consumption few parents and children consume this meal every day and research examining the determinants of breakfast consumption is limited. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine breakfast-related cognitions (i.e., beliefs, attitudes, facilitators, barriers) of parents and school-age children...

A ‘generation’ is an identifiable group sharing birth years and significant life events at critical developmental ages. There is a paucity of literature examining how parental cognitions and lifestyle behaviors differ by generation and whether generational differences are substantial enough to warrant consideration during the development of health...

Unique pressures placed on athletes make them vulnerable to disordered eating behaviors. Interviews were conducted with sports registered dietitian/nutritionists' (RDNs) (n = 15) to explore factors influencing athletes' food choices, including RDN counseling strategies. RDNs noted that convenience, taste preference, and advice from RDNs influence a...

Objective This multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional, multi-state, integrated research, education, and extension project will advance and expand the progress of HomeStyles toward reducing risk of childhood overweight and obesity. Description HomeStyles, an in-home family intervention, enables and motivates parents to shape home environments and...

Background Food insecurity is a growing concern among US higher education institutions. Research is needed to understand the impact of food insecurity on food choice priorities when designing interventions for college students. Objective To examine the factors that influence decisions about food between food secure (FS) and food insecure (FI) coll...

Objective To describe the current outcomes of the Get Fruved project. Description Get Fruved is a social marketing and environmental change intervention seeking to prevent unwanted weight gain among high school and college students. The intervention, a non-diet approach focusing on increasing healthy diet choices, physical activity, and stress man...

Objectives: To explore the advice school-age children would give parents to help their kids make good health-related behavioral choices (e.g., reducing sugary beverages, increasing fruits/vegetables, eating age-appropriate portions, having frequent family meals) and determine the congruence of children's advice with best-practice parenting guideli...

Objectives: To examine the relationship between child physical activity (PA) propensity (i.e., tendency to be physically active) and parent PA cognitions and behaviors, as well PA-related aspects of the home environment. Methods: Parents (N = 390) of young children (ages 2-9) completed an online survey assessing their PA cognitions, behaviors, h...

Objectives: To qualitatively investigate the cognitions and decisions of parents of school-aged children vis-à-vis children's snacking at way-from-home events. Methods: Parents (n = 37) of 6- to 11-year-old children from NJ, WV, and FL participated in 1 of 13 focus groups conducted by trained moderators. Data were content analyzed by trained res...

Objectives: To determine if there is an association between critical nutrition literacy (CNL) and dietary behavior. It is hypothesized that college students with higher nutrition literacy scores will consume more fruits and vegetables (FV) and less added sugar (S). Methods: A secondary data analysis was conducted using a cross-sectional survey o...

Objectives: Cognitive testing (CT), an underutilized methodology in nutrition education, is applied during the development of educational materials to gauge the target audience's comprehension and interest in the education material's content as well as to assess whether the presentation (e.g., wording, design) of the content is responsive to the a...

This paper describes the redesign, field-testing, and convergent validity of a practical tool—Physical Activity Campus Environmental Supports (PACES) audit. Methods. The audit includes two parts: (1) PACES-Programs, which is comprised of questions regarding populations served, fees, programs (recreation/fitness classes and intramurals), proximity,...

Purpose Eating away from home frequency is increasing and is linked with numerous adverse health outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to inform the development of health promotion materials for improving eating away from home behaviors by elucidating related parent and child cognitions. Design/methodology/approach Parents (n=37) and children (...

Study objectives To describe parents’ and school-age children's sleep-related cognitions and behaviors. Methods Parents (n = 36) and school-age children (n = 40; 6-11 years old) from New Jersey, Florida, and West Virginia participated in focus groups lasting ~60 minutes for parents and ~30 minutes for children. Trained researchers led the focus gr...

Fruit and vegetable (F/V)-related cognitions of parents (n = 36) and children (aged 6-11 years; n = 41) were investigated via focus groups. Participants regarded F/Vs as important for health. Parents identified busy schedules, picky eating, and cost as F/V intake barriers. To overcome barriers, parents suggested scheduling time for F/V preparation...

Background: Workplace or campus wellness/obesity-prevention policies and initiatives can improve health. Research tools to assess worksite or campus policies/initiatives are scarce. Thus, the aim of this research is to develop and validate the policies, opportunities, initiatives, and notable topics (POINTS) audit. Methods: POINTS was developed and...

Objective To investigate parent and child food preparation cognitions and behaviors qualitatively to create recommendations for nutrition programs targeting these audiences. Design Focus groups were conducted in community settings with school-age children (n = 37) and parents (n = 38) in Florida, West Virginia, and New Jersey. Setting Community s...

Background: This paper describes the development and validation of the Vending Evaluation for Nutrient-Density (VEND)ing audit to comprehensively evaluate vended products based upon healthfulness, price and promotion, and machine accessibility. Methods: A novel vending nutrient-density score was created to determine the healthfulness of vended snac...

Objective Obesity is a public health concern for children and adults and effective obesity prevention programming is needed urgently. The effectiveness of health-related messaging and interventions is influenced by the way content is framed. HomeStyles is an obesity prevention program, which aims to promote health through the frame of improved qual...

Background This paper describes the development, reliability, and convergent validity of a practical tool—the Convenience Store Supportive Healthy Environment for Life-Promoting Food (SHELF) Audit. Methods Audit items included: a variety of fresh, processed, and frozen fruits and vegetables; low-fat dairy products; healthy staples and frozen meals;...

Background: When dietary behaviors are habitual, intentions are low, and environmental cues, such as the consumer food environment, might guide behavior. How might intentions to eat healthily and ultimately actual dietary behaviors, be influenced by the consumer food environment (including the availability and affordability of healthy foods) in con...

Self-reported height and weight, if accurate, provide a simple and economical method to track changes in body weight over time. Literature suggests adults tend to under-report their own weight and that the gap between self-reported weight and actual weight increases with obesity. This study investigates the extent of discrepancy in self-reported he...

Latinos face disproportionate health disparities regarding weight‐related health outcomes compared to non‐Hispanic Whites which could be in part to differences in weight‐related behaviors and cognitions. Latino (n=137) and white (n=391) parents completing an online survey did not differ by age (30.53±6.36 SD vs. 33.35±5.54 SD years), sex (93% femal...