Factors affecting fat consumption of university students: testing a model to predict eating behaviour change
1993
DeWolfe, J.A. | Shannon, B.M.
A model derived from social cognitive theory to explain and predict eating behaviour change was tested with 89 university students. The outcome variable was dietary fat change after a nutrition course focusing on coronary heart disease risk reduction. Predictor variables included self-efficacy and friend support. The model was explored using path analysis, and male and female differences examined after the course and three months later. Students' fat intake decreased during the course and remained lower three months later but, overall, the change was not statistically significant. Self-efficacy or confidence to choose lower-fat foods increased during the course, but the increase was not maintained three months later. Females reported greater friend support to change than males post-course and that support had a direct favourable impact on dietary fat change. This was in contrast to males who reported very little friend support at post-course. At the three-month follow-up, self-efficacy was an important predictor of change for all students, while the influence of friend support was different for males and females. Male students reported significantly more positive friend support at the three-month follow-up than after the course was over. Friend support had a favourable impact on males' self-efficacy at follow-up, thus indirectly influencing dietary fat reduction. Friend support of females had a small but negative impact on their self-efficacy at follow-up. Although the hypothesized model was not supported, parts of it did allow some insights into the process of change in this group of university students
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