A MEASURE OF OUTCOME EXPECTATIONS FOR FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CONSUMPTIONAMONG 4TH AND 5TH GRADE CHILDREN - RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY

An outcome expectations questionnaire for fruit and vegetable (F&V) co nsumption among fourth and fifth grade students was developed, pilot-t ested at one school and field-tested at two schools. Seventeen questio ns generated from focus groups were listed for fruits and repeated for vegetables. Principal components analysis indicated two subscales 'so cial' and 'health and physical ability' accounting for 37.3% of the to tal variance; items loaded on the same subscales when applied to fruit s or vegetables. Internal consistencies and test-retest reliabilities for the subscales were acceptable. Mean scores for the 'health and phy sical ability' subscale were almost twice as large as the 'social' sub scale regardless of gender, grade and ethnicity. Pearson correlations between F&V outcome expectation subscales and consumption of F&V (from daily food records) were low, similar to patterns of correlations wit h preferences for F&V. Further research regarding outcome expectations is needed to clarify the extent of their impact on F&V consumption sp ecifically, and perhaps on consumption in general, among pre-adolescen t children.