Young adolescents' engagement in dietary behaviour - the impact of gender, socio-economic status, self-efficacy and scientific literacy. Methodological aspects of constructing measures in nutrition literacy research using the Rasch model

Abstract

Objective: This study validates a revised scale measuring persons’ level of the ‘engagement in dietary behaviour’ aspect of ‘critical nutrition literacy’ and describes how background factors affect this aspect of Norwegian tenth grade students’ nutrition literacy. Design: Data were gathered electronically during a field trial of a standardised sample test in science. Test items and questionnaire constructs were distributed evenly across four electronic field test booklets. Data management and analysis were performed using RUMM2030 and SPSS20. Setting: Students responded on computers at school. Subjects: Seven hundred and forty tenth grade students at twenty-seven randomly sampled public schools were enrolled in the field test study. The engagement in dietary behaviour scale and the self-efficacy in science scale were distributed to one hundred and seventy-eight of these students. Results: The dietary behaviour scale and the self-efficacy in science scale came out as valid, reliable and well-targeted instruments usable for the construction of measurements. Conclusions: Girls and students with high self-efficacy reported higher engagement in dietary behaviour than other students. Socioeconomic status and scientific literacy – measured as ability in science by applying an achievement test – did not correlate significantly different from zero with students’ engagement in dietary behaviour.