title: Valid and reliable measures of cognitive behaviors toward fruits and vegetables for children aged 9 to 11 years.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine reliability of validity-tested instruments measuring fruit and vegetable (FV) preference and self-efficacy (SE) for and attitude (AT) toward cooking.
  
  
  METHODS
  In Santa Fe, New Mexico, following cognitive interviews with 123 fourth- and fifth-graders, surveys were administered twice, less than 2 weeks apart, to students in 16 classrooms without intervening nutrition education. Results were assessed using Pearson correlation coefficient, Cronbach α, marginal homogeneity, Wilcoxon, and paired t tests.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Individual test-retest scores were significantly (P < .001) correlated (n = 344; 72.9% Hispanic); r = 0.80 (SE), 0.82 (AT), and 0.88 (FV). Cronbach α was ≥ 0.74 for all survey administrations. Classroom test-retest scores were significantly correlated (SE r = 0.66, AT r = 0.88, and FV r = 0.92). Self-efficacy and AT toward cooking were higher in girls (P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Validity-tested 8-item SE, 6-item AT, and 16-item FV surveys showed internal consistency and test-retest reliability and are suitable for impact assessment of cooking-based education interventions, specifically Cooking with Kids.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16801, USA. lohseb@psu.edu
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lohse
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cunningham-Sabo
authors.forename: Lynn M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.forename: Jane E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Stacey
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D002648:Child; D053198:Child Nutrition Sciences / Q000193:education*; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D003296:Cooking; D003625:Data Collection / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D005638:Fruit; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D009516:New Mexico; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D017678:Sex Distribution; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014675:Vegetables