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Knowledge, attitudes, and label use among college students.
1Department of Health and Kinesiology, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77843-4243, USA. misra@hlkn.tamu.edu
Journal of the American Dietetic Association
|December 7, 2007
Summary
College students
Area of Science:
- Nutrition science
- Health behavior research
- Educational psychology
Background:
- Understanding factors influencing health behaviors is crucial for public health.
- College students represent a key demographic for health interventions.
- Nutrition label reading is a vital skill for informed dietary choices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the relationships between nutrition education, knowledge, attitude, and label reading behavior in college students.
- To identify predictors of nutritional supplement use and label reading behavior.
- To test a conceptual model explaining these relationships.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving 537 randomly selected college students.
- Utilized a conceptual model and structural equation modeling.
- Assessed nutrition education exposure, knowledge, attitude, supplement use, and label reading.
Main Results:
- Prior nutrition education and a positive attitude strongly predicted label reading behavior.
- Attitude mediated the link between knowledge and label reading.
- Nutrition education, age, sex, and attitude collectively explained 44% of the variance in label usage.
Conclusions:
- Nutrition education and positive attitudes are key drivers of effective label reading among college students.
- Interventions should focus on enhancing nutrition knowledge and fostering positive attitudes.
- Targeted strategies may be needed for different student demographics (e.g., gender, academic level).
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