Marklinder Ingela, Eskhult Gustav, Ahlgren Roger, Blücher Anna, Börjesson Stina-Mina Ehn, Moazzami Madeleine, Schelin Jenny, Danielsson-Tham Marie-Louise
Department of Food Studies, Nutrition and Dietetics, Uppsala University, 751 22 Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Statistics, Uppsala University, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden.
Foods. 2022 May 28;11(11):1595. doi: 10.3390/foods11111595.
Traditionally, food safety knowledge has been seen as a factor in improving food safety behaviour. However, the relationship between knowledge and behavior is complex. The aim of the present study was to investigate self-reported data from 408 university students regarding food safety background, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour using Structural Equation Model (SEM) to examine the influence of different factors on food safety behaviour. The SEM was applied to four factors derived from the data: Background, Knowledge, Attitude and Behaviour. The novelty of this current investigation is the inclusion of the Background factor (genus; experience of cooking and handling different food items; experience of a food safety education course; the foremost sources of food safety knowledge). The factors were constructed from variables with sufficient factor loadings and set up in a predetermined structure confirmed to be valid in previous studies. The results, demonstrated as regression coefficients between factors, confirm that the Background factor strongly influenced Knowledge (0.842). The Knowledge factor, in turn, strongly affected Attitude (0.605), while it did not directly affect Behaviour (0.301) in the same way as Attitude. Attitude had a stronger influence on Behaviour (0.438) than Knowledge. Thus, the Attitude factor seemed to play a mediating role between Knowledge and Behaviour. This indicates that students´ attitudes towards the importance of food safety may have an impact on their food safety behavior, which should have implications for the development of food safety education. This warrants further investigation and practical development.
传统上，食品安全知识被视为改善食品安全行为的一个因素。然而，知识与行为之间的关系很复杂。本研究的目的是使用结构方程模型（SEM）调查408名大学生关于食品安全背景、知识、态度和行为的自我报告数据，以检验不同因素对食品安全行为的影响。SEM应用于从数据中得出的四个因素：背景、知识、态度和行为。本次调查的新颖之处在于纳入了背景因素（类别；烹饪和处理不同食品的经验；食品安全教育课程的经验；食品安全知识的主要来源）。这些因素由具有足够因子载荷的变量构建而成，并按照先前研究中确认有效的预定结构设置。结果以因素之间的回归系数表示，证实背景因素对知识有强烈影响（0.842）。反过来，知识因素对态度有强烈影响（0.605），而它对行为的直接影响（0.301）与对态度的影响方式不同。态度对行为的影响（0.438）比对知识的影响更强。因此，态度因素似乎在知识和行为之间起到了中介作用。这表明学生对食品安全重要性的态度可能会影响他们的食品安全行为，这对食品安全教育的发展应该具有启示意义。这值得进一步研究和实际开发。
