title: [Validity and factorial invariance of the social ecological model in explaining fruit intake in Mexican schoolchildren].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test the goodness of fit of a Motivation-Ability-Opportunity model (MAO-model) to evaluate the observed variance in Mexican schoolchildren's preferences to eat fruit and daily fruit intake; also to evaluate the factorial invariance across the gender and type of population (urban and semi-urban) in which children reside.
  
  
  METHODS
  A model with seven constructs was designed from a validated questionnaire to assess preferences, cognitive abilities, attitude, modelling, perceived barriers, accessibility at school, accessibility at home, and fruit intake frequency. The instrument was administered in a representative sample of 1434 schoolchildren of 5th and 6th grade of primary school in a cross-sectional and ex post fact study conducted in 2013 in six cities of the State of Chihuahua, Mexico.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The goodness of fit indexes was adequate for the MAO-model and explained 39% of the variance in preference to eat fruit. The structure of the model showed very good factor structure stability and the dimensions of the scale were equivalent in the different samples analyzed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The model analyzed with structural equation modeling showed a parsimonious model that can be used to explain the variation in fruit intake of 10 to 12 year old Mexican schoolchildren. The structure of the model was strictly invariant in the different samples analyzed and showed evidence of cross validation. Finally, implications about the modification model to fit data from scholar settings and guidelines for future research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. México.. gochoaster@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Gerardo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ochoa-Meza
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Personalidad, Evaluación y Tratamiento Psicológico, Universidad de Granada, España.. jcsierra@ugr.es.
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Sierra
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Nutrición Comunitaria, Bilbao.. bisaludpublica@wanadoo.es.
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pérez-Rodrigo
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias de la Alimentación, Fisiología y Toxicología, Universidad de Navarra, España.. jaranceta@unav.es.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aranceta Bartrina
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. México.. oesparza@uacj.mx.
authors.forename: Óscar A
authors.initials: ÓA
authors.lastname: Esparza-Del Villar
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004435:Eating; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D014505:Urban Population