RELATIONSHIPS AMONG NUTRITION KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOR OF APPALACHIAN MIDDLE SCHOOL CHILDREN

A descriptive study was conducted to determine if the relationship among nutrition knowledge, attitudes, and behavior of Appalachian middle school children. Nutrition knowledge was measured and nutrition attitudes and behavior were identified by grade, gender age, and self-perceived grade average. Two comparable forms of a questionnaire, one for the sixth-grade and one for the seventh and eighth-grade students, which had been previously tested for reliability and validity, were used to collect the data. The questionnaire was administered to 326 sixth-grade and 652 seventh and eighth-grade students during one selected period of time. The data were analyzed by frequency distribution, Pearson correlation, multiple regression, and oneway analysis of variance. The mean knowledge score of (65.5%) for the sixth-grade students was found to be higher than the mean knowledge score of (50.8%) for the seventh and eighth-grade students. The mean knowledge scores of the females from all three grades in school was higher than the mean scores of the male students. Students scored higher on questions relating to cultural and psychological aspects of nutrition and food than they did on identification of nutrient functions, need, and food sources. Students had difficulty identifying the food sources of iron, food combinations which would supply adequate amounts of essential nutrients, and foods high or low in potential food energy. Similar nutrition attitudes and behaviors were identified by the students of the three grade levels. The nutrition attitudes were not consistently reflected in reported nutrition behavior. Perceived grade, gender, and age were not significant predictors of nutrition attitudes or behavior. A weak positive relationship existed between attitudes and nutrition behavior for every group. A weak positive relationship between nutrition knowledge and attitudes was found for three groups. Middle school curriculum needs to emphasize the importance of nutrition with classroom study and activities designed to modify student nutrition behavior.