Exploring Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Frozen Produce Purchases Among U.S. Households

Authors

• Joslyn Russell, South Dakota State University

Files

Description

Frozen fruits and vegetables are convenient, cost-effective, healthful options that could help consumers meet national nutritional recommendations. However, there is a dearth of data regarding household sociodemographic factors associated with frozen food purchases. My two-fold honors capstone project involved conducting a secondary analysis of nationally representative data obtained from the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Surveys to explore the sociodemographic factors associated with the likelihood of purchasing frozen fruits, frozen vegetables, and frozen meals. An exploratory analysis was also conducted with additional variables such as United States region, household area population size, and number of hours worked per week to refine our original multivariate logistic regression model. The results of the exploratory analysis reaffirm the conclusions of our original model: households of lower socioeconomic status (lower household income and lower level of educational attainment) had lower odds of purchasing frozen fruits, frozen vegetables, and frozen meals. Additionally, contrary to our hypothesis and some existing literature, our added sociodemographic variables in the exploratory analysis had no statistically significant effect on the likelihood of household frozen food expenditures. The results of both studies could inform future nutrition education program design by helping educators promote frozen produce consumption to target audiences and improve overall diet quality for consumers.

Publication Date

5-2026

Publisher

South Dakota State University

Recommended Citation

Russell, Joslyn, "Exploring Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Frozen Produce Purchases Among U.S. Households" (2026). Honors Capstone Projects. 26.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/honors_isp/26