Component Description
The Consumer Behavior (variable name prefix CBQ) section provides personal interview data on various dietary related consumer behavior topics at family level. Topics included in the section are:
- Family members' use of special diet(s);
- Availability of certain types of foods for the family;
- Family food expenditures;
- Time to get to grocery store for food shopping;
- Time spent on cooking dinner; and
- Number of meals eaten together as a family.
Starting in 2007, a Flexible Consumer Behavior Survey (FCBS) module was added to the NHANES. This module was developed in collaboration with the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). It is designed to collect information on respondents’ knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs toward nutrition and food choices. The FCBS module has two elements: a core set of questions asked in the household interview, and a supplementary module asked as a 15-minute telephone follow-up interview with focuses specifically designed for each 2-year data collection cycle.
The core set of the FCBS module collects information on dietary-related consumer behavior in participants’ families. For example, family members’ use of special diet, availability of certain types of foods for the family, food expenditures, as well as time spent on food shopping and cooking dinner, and meals eaten together as a family. These data are included in the present CBQ section.
The core set of the FCBS module also includes questions on individual participant’s food choices, such as getting meals prepared away from home, meals got from fast-food or pizza places, use of convenience foods or ready-to-eat meals bought in stores, and participant’s self-perceived vegetarian status, food allergies, and meal planner/shopper/preparer status at home. These individual level questions, in the core set of FCBS module, are included in the Diet Behavior and Nutrition (DBQ) questionnaire section and released in a separate file at: https://wwwn.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes/2009-2010/dbq_f.htm.
Data from the phone follow-up FCBS supplementary module will also be released in separate files and made available on the NHANES website. Similar to other datasets in the NHANES 2009-2010 release cycle, all FCBS related data files can be linked by the respondent sequence number (SEQN). For more information on the other FCBS related data refer to the documentations accompanying the datasets.
Eligible Sample
All participants are eligible.
Interview Setting and Mode of Administration
These questions were asked as part of the NHANES Family Questionnaire in the home, using the Computer-Assisted Personal interview (CAPI) system. Hand cards showing response categories were also used for some questions. One respondent in each family answered these questions.
Quality Assurance & Quality Control
The CAPI system is programmed with built-in consistency checks to reduce data entry errors. CAPI also uses online help screens to assist interviewers in defining key terms used in the questionnaire. All of the data was reviewed by the NHANES field office staff for accuracy and completeness.
Data Processing and Editing
Frequency counts were checked, “skip” patterns were verified, and the reasonableness of question responses was reviewed. Edits were made to some variables to ensure the completeness, consistency, and analytic usefulness of the data. Edits were also made, when necessary, to address data disclosure concerns. When a variable was modified globally, as part of the editing process, the third letter in the variable name was changed from a Q (i.e., CBQ) to a D (i.e., CBD). For example, some data were collected using two variables (a number variable and a unit of measure variable), but combined into a single variable for data release purposes.
CBD070, CBD090, CBD110, CBD120, and CBD130 (Food expenditures – Money spent on food in the past 30 days)
This information was collected using two-part (number and unit) questions to allow respondents to report the amount of money as either per week or per month. The released variables were edited to standardize the reported amount to number of dollars in the last 30 days.
CBD150 (Time to get to grocery store for food shopping)
This information was collected using two-part (number and unit) questions to allow respondents to report the amount of time in minutes or hours. The released variables were edited to standardize the reported time to minutes. Reported time longer than 600 minutes was deemed as implausible and set to missing.
CBD170 (Time spent cooking dinner and cleaning up after the cooking)
This information was collected using two-part (number and unit) questions to allow respondents to report the amount of time in minutes or hours. The released variables were edited to standardize the reported time to minutes.
Analytic Notes
Please refer to the NHANES Analytic Guidelines and the on-line NHANES Tutorial for further details on the use of sample weights and other analytic issues. Both of these are available on the NHANES website.