Psychosocial Determinants of Vegetable Intake Among Nepalese Young Adults: An Exploratory Survey

Abstract

Background: Adequate intake of vegetables facilitates a healthy lifestyle. However, the majority of Nepalese young adults consume inadequate amount of vegetables per day.Objectives: We explored psychosocial determinants of daily intake of two or more servings of vegetables among Nepalese young adults using attitude, social influence, and self-efficacy (ASE) as a theoretical framework, extended with measures of habit and self-identity as additional constructs.Methods/Participants: A cross-sectional study through a web-based questionnaire survey was conducted among 461 Nepalese young adults aged 18–35 years old. Participants were recruited through convenience (snowball) sampling. A factor-based partial least square structural equation modelling was used for analysis.Results: The findings indicated that attitudes (β = 0.09, p = 0.029), social influence (β = 0.17, p < 0.001), habit (β = 0.24, p < 0.001) and self-identity (β = 0.30, p < 0.001) were significant factors influencing intention to eat two or more servings of vegetables per day. Further, self-efficacy (β = 0.10, p = 0.011), habit (β = 0.08, p = 0.034), diet (β = −0.10, p = 0.014), and place of residence (β = 0.11, p = 0.007) significantly influenced behaviour to eat two or more servings of vegetables per day. However, self-efficacy (β = 0.07, p = 0.062) did not significantly influence intention and self-identity (β = 0.06, p = 0.083), age (β = −0.02, p = 0.328), gender (β = 0.02, p = 0.350), and body mass index (β = −0.04, p = 0.209) did not significantly influence behaviour to eat two or more servings of vegetables per day.Conclusion: The study shows that attitudes, social influence, habit, and self-identity were significant factors influencing intention to eat two or more servings of vegetables per day. Further, self-efficacy and habit significantly influenced behaviour to eat two or more servings of vegetables per day. However, self-efficacy did not significantly influence intention and self-identity did not significantly influence behaviour to eat two or more servings of vegetables per day.

Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Assess the Determinants of Dietary Adherence Among Patients After Bariatric Surgery

“…As proposed by the ASE model, psychosocial factors, including intention, attitude, social influence, and self-efficacy are major determinants of health-related behavior. 44 Furthermore, the behavioral intention may be a mediator between the influence of attitude, social influence, self-efficacy, and behavior. 24 After developing the theory-supported questionnaire, it is possible to understand the mechanism of specific behavior and identify factors necessary to change health-related behavior.…”

Escala de Influência Psicossocial da ingestão de Frutas, Verduras e Legumes do Adolescente: Adaptação e Validade Fatorial

“…Estes fatores são avaliados de maneiras variadas na literatura, que foca em estudos com adultos, sem utilizar instrumentos validados, e com os fatores avaliados de modo independente, sem a análise de propriedades psicométricas 16,17,19,20,[27][28][29][30][31] . As raras vezes em que se verificam testes de confiabilidade e validade para os instrumentos utilizados, ocorrem de maneira heterogênea 31 .…”

Exploring Psychosocial Determinants of Eating Behavior: Fruit and Vegetable Intake Among Brazilian Adolescents

“…These factors are assessed together in various ways in studies that aimed to investigate psychosocial determinants for FV intake in adults and young adults ( 10 , 13 , 15 , 37 – 40 ). For adolescents, these determinants were evaluated in three studies: one of them through focus groups ( 41 ) and two by non-validated instruments ( 11 , 42 ).…”