Abstract
The majority of Korean adolescents do not meet dietary guidelines for vegetable intake. This study's objective was to examine relationships among social cognitive theory mediators of vegetable consumption in Korean adolescents. A cross-sectional survey study. Participants were recruited from two high schools in an urban area, South Korea. A total of 399 students (192 boys, 207 girls), aged 16-17 years, participated in this self-report survey study. A survey instrument with SCT variables was administered. There were 54 previously validated questions that consisted of outcome expectation, self-efficacy, affective attitude, knowledge, vegetable accessibility-at-home, and accessibility-at-school, vegetable preference, and behavioral intention. Path analysis was performed to examine potential mediating relationships among SCT variables related to students’ vegetable consumption. A structural equation modeling (SEM) software AMOS v.23 was used. Acceptable cutoffs for model fit were as follows: RMSEA≤0.06, NFI >0.90, CFI >0.90, TLI >0.90. Model fit indices of SEM for the final model were CFI=.996; NFI=.988; TLI=.985; and RMSEA=0.033, indicating an excellent model fit. Students’ knowledge and accessibility at home and at schools predicted outcome expectation, affective attitudes, and self-efficacy (p < .05 to p < .001); outcome expectation predicted self-efficacy significantly (p < .001); self-efficacy predicated vegetable preferences. Vegetable preferences and affective attitudes were significant predictors of behavioral intention (p < .001), which was a dependent variable in the final model. Results show that self-efficacy and affective attitudes may affect students’ vegetable preferences, which may in turn increase students’ behavior intention. Nutrition education intervention targeting these SCT variables are thus warranted and may be effective improving Korean adolescents’ vegetable consumption.
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