Determinants of the intention of post-secondary students to eat at least five servings of vegetables and fruit daily

BACKGROUND: Vegetable and fruit consumption helps reduce the occurrence of overweight, obesity, and other chronic diseases. However, only 50% of young adults eat at least five servings of these foods daily. Based on the construct of the Theory of planned behaviour of Ajzen (1991) to which other constructs were added (descriptive norm, perceived regularity of the behaviour and past behaviour), this study aims at identifying the determinants in the intention of young adults in postsecondary education institutions to eat at least five servings of vegetables and fruit daily during the next three months.

METHODS: A sample of 385 students in two CEGEP (junior college institutions) in the Quebec City area participated in this correlation study on a volunteer basis. While attending class, they completed a self-administered questionnaire.

RESULTS: Hierarchical regression analyses showed that perceived behavioural controls and the perceived weight of facilitating factors and barriers to the behaviour, explained 75% of the intention variance. Another 4% was explained when the perceived regularity of the behaviour, the descriptive norm, and past-behaviour, were added to the analysis. Logistic regression analyses show that individuals presenting weak/strong intention can be differentiated among themselves as to the perception of benefits derived from a daily consumption of vegetables and fruit (such as maintaining good health, eating foods that taste good), and as to facilitating factors/barriers that assist or inhibit such consumption (possessing more information on the nutritional value and taste of vegetables and fruit, or disposing of sufficient time to prepare them).

CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first study done in Quebec using a recognized theoretical model to identify the determinants of the intention to eat at least five servings of vegetables and fruit daily in a sample of young adults in postsecondary education institutions. The results may be helpful in designing the contents of interventions aimed at maintaining and increasing daily consumption of vegetables and fruit by young adults.