Perceived food environments and fruit & vegetable consumption among Hungarian single mothers

Vespa, Francesca and Benedek, Zsófia and Szakál, Diana and Pózner, Vanda and Antal, Emese and Varsányi, Katalin and Mathijs, Erik (2026) Perceived food environments and fruit & vegetable consumption among Hungarian single mothers. DISCOVER FOOD. ISSN 2731-4286 (In Press)

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Abstract

Despite clear health benefits of regular fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption, intake in Hungary remains below WHO recommendations. High inflation and limited political and economic support increase food insecurity risk, particularly for vulnerable groups such as single mothers. Although it is well known that perceptions of the food environment influence eating behaviour, little is known about how single mothers experience these environments when dealing with financial concerns. This study used quantitative methods to measure the perceptions of three food environments (Community, Consumer and Home) and their direct and indirect relationships with F&V consumption among Hungarian single mothers. The NEMS-P survey was used and confirmatory factor analysis was employed to validate the theoretical constructs. A conceptual framework based on the Model of Perceived Nutrition Environments was tested using structural equation modelling. Results show the central role of the Home food environment in influencing F&V consumption. It had a direct effect on consumption and mediated the influence of the Consumer nutrition environment. Economic concern negatively affected F&V consumption, the Home food environment, and perceptions of the Consumer Nutrition Environment. In contrast, F&V consumption was not associated with the perceived community nutrition environment, suggesting relatively good access to stores offering quality and variety of F&V. These findings highlight the strong relationship between the home food environment and healthy eating behaviours and underline the importance of further research on psychosocial and sociodemographic factors to develop context-specific and targeted policy interventions.

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