2024 Volume 32 Issue 3 Pages 136-147
Objective: To structurally examine the relationship between eating vegetables and attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, and behavioral change stages and verify whether the structure differed based on household income.
Method: This cross-sectional study conducted an Internet survey in February 2014. The participants were men and women aged 30–59 years. Survey variables included sex, age, marital status, residence status, employment status, educational level, and household income. We also enquired regarding the observed variables; the main item pertained to eating vegetables. There were 16 additional items that pertained to attitudes, subjective norms, self-efficacy, and behavioral change stages. These variables pertained to the four eating behaviors of eating a meal with “a staple food, main dish, and side dish,” “side dishes,” “dark green vegetables,” and “fruits.” A simultaneous multi-population analysis was conducted based on household income categorized into three groups: <3 million yen, 3–<7 million yen, and ≥7 million yen.
Results: In the final model of the simultaneous multi-population analysis, standardized path coefficients of self-efficacy to eating vegetables were higher than that of behavioral change stages to eating vegetables for all household income groups. Moreover, values of the standardized path coefficients of self-efficacy to behavioral change stages were also higher than those of attitudes and subjective norms.
Conclusion: Self-efficacy was the factor most closely associated with eating vegetables, regardless of differences in household income. Population approaches aiming to enhance vegetable consumption should target and improve self-efficacy.
