Dietary behavior among African Americans: assessing cultural identity and health consciousness.

The present study utilized the African self-consciousness (ASC) construct as an index of African-American cultural identity, and explored its association .with health consciousness and dietary behavior. One hundred ninety-seven African-American adults residing in a Southeastern community participated in the study. Results demonstrated few, but significant, correlations between cultural identity and health consciousness. A similar relationship was observed between cultural identity and dietary behavior. Further, after statistically controlling for health consciousness, cultural identity contributed unique variance to dietary behavior. These findings represent preliminary evidence suggesting the general viability of cultural models in explaining African-American health behavior. More importantly, the study offers avenues for additional research on the complex roles played by culture and cultural identity in African-American dietary behavior.