Goal setting has shown some promise in promoting dietary and physical activity behavior change among adults, but methodological issues still need to be resolved. The literature with adolescents and children is limited, and the authors are not aware of any published studies with this audience investigating the independent effect of goal setting on dietary or physical activity behavior. Although, goal setting is widely used with children and adolescents in nutrition interventions, its effectiveness has yet to be reported.
Accounting for goal effort and spontaneous goal setting, this study provides some evidence that the use of guided goal setting with adolescents may be a viable strategy to promote dietary and physical activity behavior change.
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