Predictors of physical activity, healthy eating and being smoke-free in teens: A theory of planned behaviour approach

Abstract

This paper elicited context specific underlying beliefs for physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption and smoke-free behaviour from the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and then determined whether the TPB explained significant variation in intentions and behaviour over a 1 month period in a sample of grade 7-9 (age 12-16 years) adolescents. Eighteen individual interviews and one focus group were used to elicit student beliefs. Analyses of this data produced behavioural, normative and control beliefs which were put into a TPB questionnaire completed by 183 students at time 1 and time 2. The Path analyses from the main study showed that the attitude/intention relationship was moderately large for fruit and vegetable consumption and small to moderate for being smoke free. Perceived behavioural control had a large effect on being smoke free and a moderately large effect for fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity. Intention had a large direct effect on all three behaviours. Common (e.g. feel better, more energy) and behaviour-specific (e.g., prevent yellow fingers, control my weight) beliefs emerged across the three health behaviours. These novel findings, to the adolescent population, support the importance of specific attention being given to each of the behaviours in future multi-behavioural interventions.

Health behavioral theories used to explain dietary behaviors in adolescents: a systematic review

“…The majority of the studies were conducted in the USA (5/17) [36,44,45,47,49] followed by The Netherlands (4/17) [39,41,43,48], representing 52.9% of the total. Other countries represented in the descriptive synthesis were in Norway [40,46], Sweden [50,52], Australia [51], Canada [38], and New Zealand [42]. One study was multi-center and assessed the cultural differences in four European regions (Poland, Portugal, The Netherlands, and the UK) [37] (Table 1).…”

“…Five studies were considered low risk of bias [36,39,43,48,51], 10 studies were classified as moderated risk of bias [37,38,40,41,49,52], and 2 as being high risk of bias [42,46].…”

“…Of the 17 studies, the majority (52.9%) examined sugar sweetened beverages intake (e.g., artificial juices-powder and nectar, sport energy drinks, soft drinks, and flavored milk) [36,37,39,[41][42][43][44]48], followed by fruit and vegetables intake (47.1%) (i.e., fresh, frozen, and/or canned) [37,38,42,45,47,49,50], four examined the consumption of sugar, fat, and/or sodium-rich snacks (e.g., cookies, fish and chips* [typical dish from Australia, New Zealand, and the UK], fried chicken, fried snacks [i.e., nuts, corn, and potato chips], pastries [e.g., tarts, baked snacks, cakes], hamburgers, pizza, sweets, and candies) [37,42,47,51], and only two (11.1%) examined breakfast items food intake (i.e., milk and bread [e.g., skim-, low-medium-, and full-fat milk, and highfiber bread]) [40,46]. It is important to highlight that four studies divided the food/beverages items into two categories: healthy/core foods and unhealthy/non-core foods [37,42,45,51].…”

The Effect of a Mother’s Level of Attachment and Her Emotional Intelligence on a Child’s Health during Its First Year of Life

“…Balmford, Borland, & Burney, 2010;Murnaghan et al, 2010;Lyons, 2011). Such behavior is clearly determined to a significant degree by the subject's motivation to lead a healthy lifestyle.…”

Current issues and new directions inPsychology and Health: The potential contribution of health psychology to developing effective interventions to reduce tobacco smoking

“…However, this remains to be seen and indeed there is a substantial research agenda examining how far identity as opposed to specific responses to, concerns and desires relating to smoking predicts cessation. Murnaghan et al (2010) report significant correlations between Theory of Planned Behaviour measures (attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control and intention) and smoking behaviour 1 month later in a sample of adolescents. Previous research has found similar sizes of association cross-sectionally but predicting take up of smoking or its cessation has proved much more difficult.…”