Examination of specific nutrition/health behaviors using a social cognitive model.

Nutrition intervention programs are not always successful. In some cases, an insufficient understanding of the interrelationships among factors influencing health behaviors may be responsible for the failures. This study used social cognitive theory, a framework for studying behaviors, to structure the relationships between measurable factors important to the frequency of health-oriented food consumption. We developed a model that incorporated factors for social environment, reinforcement, commitment, behavior modeling, knowledge, and attitude relative to the frequency of consumption of four beverages (whole milk, low-fat/skin milk, regular soda, and diet soda). Four-hundred fifty-seven middle-aged adults (mean age, 47 years; 58% female) and 709 college students (mean age, 21 years; 50% female) responded to a written questionnaire designed as a self-report on frequency of consumption and measures for 10 social cognitive variables. For all four beverages, the model explained 35% or more of the variance in frequency of consumption, thus confirming its predictive power. We used the statistical approach known as path analysis to examine the relationships within the model. The analysis demonstrated that factors influencing the consumption varied between the two age groups (e.g., nutrition knowledge was related to attitude in adult soda-drinking models but not in student soda-drinking models) and between forms of the beverages (e.g., for student models, nutrition knowledge was related to taste enjoyment for low-fat/skim milk but not for whole milk).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)