title: The importance of decisional balance and self-efficacy in relation to stages of change for fruit and vegetable intakes by young adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the stages of change, decisional balance, and self-efficacy constructs in relation to fruit and vegetable intakes by young adults 18-24 years old.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional project was conducted by 10 states in January-July 2000 to examine decisional balance and self-efficacy in relation to stage of change for increasing fruit and vegetable intake among young adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  In all, 1545 usable surveys were returned (response rate = 55%). More non-respondents were men and precontemplators than respondents. Sixty-one percent of respondents were women, 90.3% were white, and 49.7% were current students.
  
  
  METHODS
  Alabama, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Rhode Island, Oregon, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.
  
  
  METHODS
  A telephone screening interview and a self-administered mail survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analysis of variance, principal components analysis, cluster analysis, and chi 2 test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From precontemplation to maintenance, a significant linear trend was found toward higher food intake and self-efficacy for fruits and vegetables. The patterns of shifts in the pros and cons across the stages resembled those of other health behaviors. The decisional balance items were further classified into five component factors that varied significantly in importance across the stages. Four subject clusters were derived (unconcerned, reluctant, exploring, and action-oriented); distribution of the clusters agreed with that of the five stages.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study supports applicability of the Transtheoretical Model for assessing fruit and vegetable consumption by young adults. Derivation of the four clusters implies the importance of including decisional balance and self-efficacy as outcome measures besides dietary behavior for evaluating the effectiveness of nutrition interventions.
authors.affiliation: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 202 Ruth Leverton Hall, Lincoln, NE 68583-0806, USA.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Nancy M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Betts
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Horacek
authors.forename: Constance
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Georgiou
authors.forename: Adrienne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nitzke
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation; D020377:Self Efficacy; D014481:United States; D014675:Vegetables