Nutrition knowledge, attitudes and perceived norms as correlates of selecting low-fat diets

This report describes the development and evaluation of scales that assess nutrition knowledge, attitudes about diet and perceived norms associated with selecting low-fat diets. Participants were 97 women, aged 45–59, with a broad range of dietary fat intakes. Usual dietary patterns were assessed with a food frequency questionnaire, 8 days of food diaries and an 18-item questionnaire on fat-related diet behavior. Participants completed a questionnaire with 125 items. A Q-sort, and item and factor analyses were used to develop three knowledge, two attitude and four norms scales. These scales had fair internal consistency reliabilities (ranges were 0.53–0.73), and most were significantly associated with both per cent of energy from fat and fat-related diet behavior. Factors most strongly associated with low-fat diets were related to perceived norms and knowledge about fat in foods. In multiple regression models, norms and knowledge contributed significantly and independently to both measures of diet behavior, while the variance explained by attitudes was small. These findings support the inclusion of components that enhance practical food knowledge and change dietary behavior norms in nutrition education programs. These scales may also be useful tools, both to evaluate nutrition intervention programs and to develop hypotheses about dietary behavior which can be tested empirically.