Unmet Social Needs Moderate the Relationship Between Cooking Frequency and Self-Rated Diet Quality

To assess (1) the associations between unmet social needs and cooking frequency and (2) whether unmet social needs moderate the relationship between cooking frequency and self-rated diet quality.

Cross-sectional analysis of survey data collected online in 2024.

1,570 adults living in the US.

Cooking frequency was the outcome for Aim 1. Self-rated diet quality was the outcome for Aim 2.

Ordinal logistic regression tested the association between cooking frequency and 6 unique unmet social needs (e.g., unstable housing, food insecurity). An interaction term was used to evaluate whether each unmet social need moderated the relationship between cooking frequency and self-rated diet quality.

Those with ≥ 5 unmet needs were 55% less likely (adjusted odds ratio: 0.45; 95% confidence interval: 0.28-0.72) to report a cooking frequency greater than one time per week compared to participants with no unmet social needs. Interaction analyses revealed that difficulty paying bills, receiving a utility shutoff threat, experiencing unstable housing, or experiencing food insecurity, moderated the relationship between cooking frequency and self-rated diet quality.

All unmet social needs, except food insecurity, were associated with lower cooking frequency. Several unmet social needs moderated the relationship between cooking frequency and diet quality. Program planners must consider unmet social needs when promoting cooking as a strategy to improve diet quality.