Table 5.

Socio-economic differences in food purchasing among main household food shoppers (n 970), Brisbane Food Study, Australia, 2000^†

	Food purchasing index score‡
	Grocery		Fruit variety		Vegetable variety
Socio-economic position	EMM	se	EMM	se	EMM	se
Household income ($AUD)
High (≥78 000)	55·1	1·2	65·5	1·5	73·2	1·1
Mid–high (52 000–77 999)	49·5	1·7	63·8	2·0	71·5	1·5
Mid–low (26 000–51 999)	46·1	1·5	61·9	1·5	73·3	1·3
Low (≤25 999)	44·6**	1·8	59·0*	2·0	70·0	1·6
Difference (high – low)§	10·5		6·0				3·2
P value for overall income group differences	<0·001		0·03				0·22
Education
Bachelor degree or higher	51·2	1·2	65·9	1·2	74·8	1·0
Diploma	46·6	2·0	63·3	2·1	75·4	1·7
Vocational	48·1	1·6	61·7	1·7	71·9	1·4
No post-school qualifications	45·8**	1·4	59·4**	1·5	69·1	1·2
Difference (high – low)§	5·4		6·5				5·6
P value for overall education group differences	0·003		<0·001				<0·001

EMM, estimated marginal mean.

Statistical significance compared with the referent (highest) socio-economic group: *P ≤ 0·05, **P ≤ 0·001.

^†Analyses adjusted for age, gender, age, household type and household size.

^‡Range 0–100.

^§Difference = EMM food purchasing index score of the highest socio-economic group minus that of the lowest socio-economic group.