Validity of a competing food choice construct regarding fruit and vegetable consumption among urban college freshmen.
OBJECTIVE
This paper presents the reliability and validity of a "competing food choice" construct designed to assess whether factors related to consumption of less-healthful food were perceived to be barriers to fruit and vegetable consumption in college freshmen.


METHODS
Cross-sectional, self-administered survey.


METHODS
An urban public college with a large, diverse student population.


METHODS
A convenience sample of 408 college freshmen.


METHODS
A "competing food choice" construct and fruit and vegetable intake.


METHODS
Factor analysis, Cronbach α, and correlation coefficients were used to determine the reliability and validity of the construct.


RESULTS
Three factors were produced from the factor analysis of the 11-item competing food choice construct: "competitive food" barriers (Cronbach alpha = 0.73), fruit and vegetable-related "time" barriers (Cronbach alpha = 0.67), and "quality" barriers (Cronbach alpha = 0.64). Construct validity assessments revealed significant inverse correlations between fruit and vegetable consumption and competitive food barriers (r = -0.15, P < .01 current and r = -0.25, P < .01 prior) and time barriers (r = -0.12, P < .05 current and r = -0.10, P < .05 prior).


CONCLUSIONS
This "competing food choice" construct demonstrated satisfactory reliability and construct validity among college freshmen.
Yeh
Ming-Chin
MC
Nutrition and Food Science Track, Urban Public Health Program, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA. myeh@hunter.cuny.edu
Matsumori
Brandy
B
Obenchain
Janel
J
Viladrich
Anahi
A
Das
Dhiman
D
Navder
Khursheed
K
D000293:Adolescent; D002755:Choice Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D014495:Universities; D014675:Vegetables; D055815:Young Adult