Affective and cognitive determinants of intention to consume twenty foods that contribute to fat intake

Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action was used as a framework to study beliefs and attitudes towards twenty foods that contribute to fat intake in a Netherlands sample population. Subjects between 18 and 75 years of age (n = 419, response rate 23%) filled out a self‐administered questionnaire. Subjects were Dutch, city‐dwellers and from low‐income areas. Due to the low response rate this sample must be considered as a convenience sample. The percentage of variance explained ranged from 35% for cheese to 69% for smoked beef. Attitudes were more important predictors of intention to consume foods than subjective norms were. Additional path analyses on behavioral beliefs and attitudes showed that the liking attitude was a more important predictor of intention than the good/bad attitude. Behavioral beliefs about tastiness of the food had a strong effect on intention to consume, that is, the sum of path‐coefficients ranged from 0.32 for margarine to 0.71 for semiskimmed milk; the effect of the belief good/bad for figure was considerably lower (0.00–0.32); and the belief about prevention of heart disease had little effect (‐0.00–0.12) on intention to consume the foods. This suggests that short‐term rewards (taste) are more important than medium‐term rewards (figure) and long term (heart disease).

Key words:

• Food
• fat
• beliefs
• attitudes
• health
• tastiness
• Azjen‐Fishbein
• theory of reasoned action

Notes

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