Eighty-six percent of participants entering the study completed the 1-year followup survey. Completion rates were slightly
lower in low-income women (82%) than in high-income women (88%) and men (87%), but those who completed the follow-up survey did not differ in terms of baseline characteristics from those who did not. Table 1 presents descriptive information on the three groups of study participants. High-income women and men averaged about 35 years of
age, were highly educated and mostly White, had low smoking rates, and had body mass indexes that were slightly higher than population averages. Low-income women in the study were younger, less likely to be married, less educated, heavier, and more likely to smoke.
Table 2 shows the bivariate associations between TV viewing hours, fast food meals, and diet and exercise variables.
Table entries are unstandardized regression coefficients and their 95% confidence intervals. TV viewing was not related to energy or fat intake in men. It was, however, positively related to energy intake in both highand low-income women and to percentage of energy from fat in low-income women. TV viewing was unrelated to reported exercise. Number of fast food meals eaten per week was positively associated with total energy intake and percentage of energy from fat in all three study groups. It was also negatively associated with exercise in low-income women.
Table 3 shows cross-sectional and longitudinal associations over 1 year between TV viewing, fast food eating, and body
masss index. In men, none of these associations were significant. In women, fast food eating and TV viewing were both positively associated with body mass index. The relationships were strongest among low-- income women. Controlling for demographic covariates had little effect on these relationships. Controlling for reported diet and exercise habits reduced the strength of the associations but did not eliminate them. The only longitudinal finding was a marginally significant positive relationship between hours of TV viewing and change in body mass index in high-income women.