PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS INFLUENCING LOW FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CONSUMPTION

A major national health campaign has recently been initiated to promot e consumption of 5 or more servings of fruits and vegetables each day. This paper investigates psychosocial factors related to fruit and veg etable consumption to understand better who might be receptive and who might resist the national 5-A-Day campaign. We studied 405 adult resp ondents to a random-digit dial telephone survey. Applying the Transthe oretical Model, respondents were classified by stage of readiness to a dopt the practice of eating 5 or more fruits and vegetables each day. Logistic regression models were developed for persons consuming 2 or f ewer servings daily and for persons in the Precontemplation stage. Edu cation was directly related to fruit and vegetable intake and indirect ly related to being in the Precontemplation stage. Males were twice as likely as females to be in the Precontemplation stage and eat fewer t han 2 servings a day. Of special interest, respondents with children a t home were at greater risk of eating 2 or fewer servings a day than t hose without children at home (OR = 1.63; 95% CI, 1.06-2.52). These re sults imply that stage of readiness to change should be considered as well as other factors in planning interventions for increasing fruit a nd vegetable consumption.