Understanding African American women's decisions to buy and eat dark green leafy vegetables: an application of the reasoned action approach

Abstract

Objective: Examine intentions to buy and eat dark green leafy vegetables (DGLV).

Design: Cross-sectional survey assessing demographics, behavior, intention, and Reasoned Action Approach constructs (attitude, perceived norm, self-efficacy).

Setting: Marion County, Indiana.

Participants: African American women responsible for buying and preparing household food.

Main outcome measure(s): Reasoned Action Approach constructs explaining intentions to buy and eat DGLV.

Analysis: Summary statistics, Pearson correlations, and multiple regression analyses.

Results: Among participants (n = 410, mean age = 43 y), 76% and 80%, respectively, reported buying and eating DGLV in the past week. Mean consumption was 1.5 cups in the past 3 days. Intentions to buy (r = 0.20, P < .001) and eat (r = 0.23, P < .001) DGLV were positively associated with consumption. Reasoned Action Approach constructs explained 71.2% of the variance in intention to buy, and 60.9% of the variance in intention to eat DGLV. Attitude (β = .63) and self-efficacy (β = .24) related to buying and attitude (β = .60) and self-efficacy (β = .23) related to eating DGLV explained significant amounts of variance in intentions to buy and eat more DGLV. Perceived norm was unrelated to either intention to buy or eat DGLV.

Conclusions and implications: Interventions designed for this population of women should aim to improve DGLV-related attitudes and self-efficacy.

Keywords: African American; Reasoned Action Approach; diet; health behavior; vegetable consumption; women.