AN APPLICATION OF THE STAGE MODEL OF BEHAVIOR-CHANGE TO DIETARY-FAT REDUCTION

To assess the applicability of Prochaska and DiClemente's stage model to dietary change, stage of dietary fat reduction was assessed in two samples of adults. Results were consistent across the two samples. Mal es and females differed in their distribution across five stages of ch ange, with more males than females in a precontemplation stage and mor e females than males in a maintenance stage. Significant positive corr elates with stage for men and women were age, education, body mass ind ex, number of chronic conditions and being told one has a high serum c holesterol. For both genders, stage of dietary fat reduction was signi ficantly associated with percent of calories from fat, even when contr olling for demographic and health status covariates.