Abstract
Objective This study examined diabetes knowledge, health fatalism (the belief that health outcomes are outside one’s control), and their interaction, as predictors of Type 2 Diabetes preventive behavior. Participants: Ethnically diverse college students (N = 345) without prior diagnosis of diabetes. Methods: Cross-sectional design using validated self-report measures. Results: Respondents answered approximately half of the diabetes knowledge items correctly. Physical activity and sedentary behavior were not predicted by diabetes knowledge, fatalism, or their interaction. Higher diabetes knowledge was associated with a healthier diet among individuals with low fatalism. Greater fatalism was associated with a poorer diet among individuals with moderate or high diabetes knowledge. Conclusions: Diabetes knowledge was moderate in this college student sample. Greater knowledge was linked with a healthier diet among those with sense of personal control over their health. College health educators may consider emphasizing modifiability of health behaviors in conjunction with Type 2 diabetes education efforts.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Jacqueline Hernandez, Bridget Hidalgo, Stephany Ortiz Chavez, and Carlos Villalobos for their help with data collection and management. The authors thank Dr. Silvia Santos and Dr. Tara Victor for their comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.
Conflict of interest disclosure
The authors have no conflict of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the IRB of California State University, Dominguez Hills.