Wealthier parents buy healthier food

The wealthier a family is, the more likely it is to buy healthy food. That’s the message from research into health attitudes and food consumption data conducted by Roy Morgan Research.

62% of children aged 6-13 living in AB households eat rice in an average week and 55% eat salad, while less than half eat hot chips, fries or wedges (46%), and only around 1 in 4 eat chicken nuggets (24%).

But with each successive drop in socioeconomic status, children in the household are less likely to eat rice or salad, and more likely to eat hot chips or chicken nuggets. During an average week, less than half of kids in E or FG homes eat salad, and more eat hot chips, fries or wedges than rice.

% of children 6-13 who eat food type in an average week

Source: Roy Morgan Young Australians Survey.

Parents from high socioeconomic groups are also more concerned about the ingredients in food, with 54% of parents in the top AB socioeconomic quintile agreeing that “I try to buy additive-free food”, as do the majority of those in the C quintile (52%). But less than half of all other parents say they try to avoid buying food with additives: from 49% of D quintile, 47% of E, to just 40% of parents in the lowest FG quintile.

Michele Levine, CEO, Roy Morgan Research, said, “While the food that parents buy and give to their children is heavily influenced by the affordability of groceries, there may be many other issues at play such as the number of children (and parents) in the household, working hours, accessibility of fresh produce in the local area, as well as underlying attitudes and tastes. For example, price alone does not fully explain the inverse changes in popularity for rice and noodles among children across socioeconomic quintiles.”