title: Validity and reliability of a dietary stages of change measure among economically disadvantaged African-American adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the construct validity and 2-month test-retest reliability of a staging measure for assessing readiness to consume five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables among economically disadvantaged African-American adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  Longitudinal survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Youth services agencies serving low-income communities in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
  
  
  METHODS
  African-American adolescents (N  =  390) aged 11 to 14 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-report measures of stage of change and fruit and vegetable consumption.
  
  
  METHODS
  Correlation analysis and analysis of covariance were used to examine, cross-sectionally, whether fruit and vegetable consumption differed by stage of change (validity assessment). Correlation analysis and Cohen's kappa (κ) were used to assess the degree of association and level of agreement between stages longitudinally (test-retest reliability assessment).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fruit and vegetable consumption was moderately correlated with stage of change (r ≥ .54, p  =  .000). Consistent with the transtheoretical model, youths' consumption increased from earlier to later stages (p  =  .000). Forty-six percent of youths were in the same stage at both measurements. The correlation between stages was .26, and Cohen's κ was .20 (p  =  .000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite preliminary evidence of construct validity, the low test-retest reliability found suggests that further research and testing are needed to improve the stability of the measure.
authors: Department of Sociology, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ 07470, USA. dinoiaj@wpunj.edu
authors: Jennifer
authors: J
authors: Di Noia
authors: Leanne
authors: L
authors: Mauriello
authors: Carol
authors: C
authors: Byrd-Bredbenner
authors: Debbe
authors: D
authors: Thompson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011203:Poverty; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D014481:United States; D014675:Vegetables