Applying the Health Belief Model Constructs to Determine Predictors of Dietary Behavior among High-School Students

Introduction: Healthy nutrition during adolescence and adulthood, compared with childhood, is considered important since the basal metabolic rate decreases with age and there is often a reduction of physical activities. Furthermore, educational achievement is dependent on a healthy diet. Therefore, the present study investigated predictors of dietary behavior on the basis of the Health Belief Model (HBM) among high-school students in Kermanshah, Iran.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was both descriptive and analytical. The multistage random sampling method was applied and 500 high-school students (250 male students and 250 female students) were selected. The research tool was a two-part questionnaire, including questions about personal information and a healthy diet. Descriptive and analytical tests were conducted using the SPSS18 software.

Results: The most important predictor of the students’ healthy dietary behavior was perceived benefits. Perceived barriers and self-efficacy were not effective predictors. Moreover, there was a positive and significant relationship between healthy-diet patterns and perceived self-efficacy as well as perceived barriers. The mean score of self-efficacy for a healthy diet among the male students was significantly higher than among the female students (P < 0.001).

Discussion and Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate that some of the HBM constructs are sufficient for detecting the predictors of dietary behavior. Therefore, other psychosocial models should be considered for changing dietary behavior among students.