Psychosocial Factors Associated with Young Elementary School Children's Intentions to Consume Legumes: A Test of the Theory of Reasoned Action

Abstract

Objective The purpose of this study was to test the utility of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) in explaining young elementary school children's intention to consume legumes. Methods A survey was conducted with children in an urban, multicultural community in Massachusetts. A total of 336 children participated. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the strength of the relationship between attitude and subjective norm and intention. Results Although attitude was significantly associated with intention, the pseudo-R2 for the regression model that included only the TRA constructs was extremely low (.01). Adding demographic factors and preference improved the model's predictive ability, but attitude was no longer significant. Conclusion The results of this study do not provide support for the predictive utility of the TRA with young elementary school children for this behavior, when demographic factors are accounted for. Hedonic factors, rather than reasoned judgments, may help drive children's intentions.