Table 1.
Descriptive characteristics of Birmingham WIC program participants by FTC retail outlet user status (n = 310).a
| Variable | All participants N = 310 |
FTC usersb81 (26.13) | Nonusers 229 (73.87) | P value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Demographics | ||||
| Age (years) | 27.62 (±6.06)c | 28.27 (±6.86) | 27.39 (±5.74) | .26 |
| Race/ethnicity | .07 | |||
| Non-Hispanic black | 205 (66.99) | 47 (58.75) | 158 (67.33) | |
| Non-blackd | 101 (33.01) | 33 (41.25) | 68 (30.09) | |
| Highest education level | .84 | |||
| ≤High school | 26 (8.84) | 8 (10.26) | 18 (8.33) | |
| High school | 89 (30.27) | 21 (26.92) | 68 (31.48) | |
| Some college | 106 (36.05) | 28 (35.90) | 78 (36.11) | |
| College degree | 73 (24.83) | 21 (26.92) | 52 (24.07) | |
| Marital status | .06 | |||
| Married | 72 (23.23) | 25 (30.86) | 47 (20.52) | |
| Not married | 238 (76.77) | 56 (69.14) | 182 (79.48) | |
| Health: | ||||
| Smoking status | .46 | |||
| Current smoker | 41 (13.40) | 13 (16.05) | 28 (12.44) | |
| Nonsmoker | 265 (86.60) | 68 (83.95) | 197 (87.56) | |
| Daily F&V consumption | .003 | |||
| ≥5 servings | 111 (35.81) | 40 (49.38) | 71 (31.00) | |
| <5 servings | 199 (64.19) | 41 (50.62) | 158 (69.00) | |
| BMI classification | .19 | |||
| Underweight | 7 (2.28) | 3 (3.70) | 4 (1.77) | |
| Normal weight | 73 (23.78) | 19 (23.46) | 54 (23.89) | |
| Overweight | 88 (28.66) | 28 (34.57) | 60 (26.55) | |
| Obese | 139 (45.28) | 31 (38.27) | 108 (47.79) | |
| Grocery shopping | ||||
| Frequency of grocery shopping | .78 | |||
| Twice a month | 111 (35.60) | 26 (32.10) | 84 (36.84) | |
| Once a month | 25 (8.09) | 6 (7.41) | 19 (8.33) | |
| Once a week | 112 (36.25) | 33 (40.74) | 79 (34.65) | |
| More than once a week | 62 (20.06) | 16 (19.75) | 46 (20.18) | |
| WIC CVV redemption | .24 | |||
| Yes | 198 (63.46) | 47 (58.02) | 151 (65.37) | |
| No | 114 (36.54) | 34 (41.98) | ||
| 80 (34.63) | ||||
| Chain grocery store use | 274 (88.39) | 76 (93.83) | 198 (86.46) | .08 |
| Convenience store use | 12 (3.87) | 4 (4.94) | 8 (3.49) | .52 |
| Organic market use | 23 (7.42) | 13 (16.05) | 10 (4.37) | .001 |
| Home garden | 8 (2.58) | 5 (6.17) | 3 (1.31) | .03 |
a
WIC indicates Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children; FTC, farm-to-consumer retail outlet; F&V, fruit and vegetable; BMI, body mass index; CVV, cash value voucher. N (%); frequencies may total to the sample size due to missing data.
b
FTC users: 71 (87.7%) used a farmers’ market, 35 (43.2%) used a farm/roadside stand, 6 (7.4%) used a community garden, 0 used a community-supported agriculture program.
c
Mean (±SD) for continuous variables.
d
Non-black: non-Hispanic white = 59 (19.3%), Hispanic = 16 (5.2%), other = 25 (8.2%).