Affective and cognitive determinants of intention to consume twenty foods that contribute to fat intake

Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action was used as a framework to s tudy beliefs and attitudes towards twenty foods that contribute to fat inta ke in a Netherlands sample population. Subjects between 18 and 75 years of age (n = 419, response rate 23%) filled out a self-administered questionnai re. Subjects were Dutch, city-dwellers and from low-income areas. Due to th e low response rate this sample must be considered as a convenience sample. The percentage of variance explained ranged from 35% for cheese to 69% for smoked beef. Attitudes were more important predictors of intention to cons ume foods than subjective norms were. Additional path analyses on behaviora l beliefs and attitudes showed that the liking attitude was a more importan t predictor of intention than the good/bad attitude. Behavioral beliefs abo ut tastiness of the food had a strong effect on intention to consume, that is, the sum of path-coefficients ranged from 0.32 for margarine to 0.71 for semiskimmed milk; the effect of the belief good/bad for figure was conside rably lower (0.00-0.32); and the belief about prevention of heart disease h ad little effect (-0.00-0.12) on intention to consume the foods. This sugge sts that short-term rewards (taste) are more important than medium-term rew ards (figure) and long term (heart disease).