Two Cooks in the Kitchen: Effects of Shared Decision-Making about Food Provisioning among Dual-Income Earning Couples in the United States

This dissertation includes two related manuscripts pertaining to the study of shared decision-making and food provisioning; the first study (Chapter II) describes the development of the scale used in this dissertation, and the second (Chapter III) describes the use of that scale to examine the relationship between shared decision-making and household food waste. The purpose of the first study (Chapter II) was to develop a new measurement tool to capture shared decision-making within U.S. couples across the full spectrum of food provisioning stages, including acquisition (activities related to purchasing food and managing food inventory), preparation and cooking (activities related to the transformation of ingredients into edible states), and clean-up and disposal (activities related to the storage and disposal of uneaten foods and the cleaning of materials and spaces associated with eating). Based on role theory and data highlighting significant structural changes to U.S. household compositions over the past decades, this research attempts to identify the degree to which individuals in coupled relationships perceived that both partners engaged in household decision-making within food provisioning domains. For the first study, two independent samples of U.S. adults (N=277 and N=441) were used to test and validate the proposed new measurement tool. Using best practices for scale development, this study presents the results of exploratory factor analysis, reliability testing, and construct validity predictions, to present a new 19-item scale measuring shared decision-making about food provisioning. This scale can also be divided into three theoretically meaningful sub-scales measuring shared decision-making about food acquisition (8 items), food preparation and cooking (4 items), and food clean-up and disposal (7 items). The purpose of the second study (Chapter III) was to examine the relationship between the Independent Variable (IV), shared decision-making about household food provisioning, and the Dependent Variable (DV), self-reported food waste (RQ1), using the newly developed scale (presented in study 1). In addition, this research sought to examine the theory of planned behavior constructs of attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control to avoid wasting food, to determine the degree to which shared decision-making about household food provisioning might be associated with each of these predictive constructs (RQ2). Data for this second study came from a Qualtrics Panel survey in which a group of 441 participants were recruited to complete an extensive online survey about food decision-making, self-reported food wastage, and other related measures. Multiple regression hypothesis testing revealed that higher levels of shared decision-making about food clean-up and disposal was associated with higher levels of self-reported food wastage. In addition, it was found that individuals in coupled relationships who reported higher levels of shared decision-making about cooking and food preparation felt a stronger sense of control over their ability to prevent food waste. Combined, these studies offer a preliminary exploration of the relationship between shared decision-making and household food waste generation, as well as numerous opportunities for follow-up work. Most significantly, future scholarship is needed to further explore the degree to which couples make decisions independently in shared contexts versus engaging in explicit communication about food provisioning practices. Gaining clarity around the meaning of shared decision-making will offer new opportunities to explore the impact that multiple decision-makers within a household may have on the household’s overall production of waste