A measure of outcome expectations for fruit and vegetable consumption among fourth and fifth grade children: reliability and validity

Abstract

An outcome expectations questionnaire for fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption among fourth and fifth grade students was developed, pilot-tested at one school and field-tested at two schools. Seventeen questions generated from focus groups were listed for fruits and repeated for vegetables. Principal components analysis indicated two subscales ‘social’ and ‘health and physical ability’ accounting for 37.3% of the total variance; items loaded on the same subscales when applied to fruits or vegetables. Internal consistencies and test-retest reliabilities for the subscales were acceptable. Mean scores for the ‘health and physical ability’ subscale were almost twice as large as the ‘social’ subscale regardless of gender, grade and ethnicity. Pearson correlations between F&V outcome expectation subscales and consumption of F&V (from daily food records) were low, similar to patterns of correlations with preferences for F&V. Further research regarding outcome expectations is needed to clarify the extent of their impact on F&V consumption specifically, and perhaps on consumption in general, among pre-adolescent children.