Factores que influyen en las conductas alimentarias de los adolescentes: Aplicación y validación de un instrumento diagnóstico

Abstract

Introduction: Variables that predict the eating behaviour of teenagers are a high-priority objective of nutritional educational programmes. This research work is designed to verify whether the Food Consumption, Intentions and Preferences Assessment Test (FCIPAT) is useful when investigating the factors influencing adolescent eating behaviour patterns. Method: The sample consisted of 591 students aged 15-16 year old from the city of Melilla (Spain), distributed in diverse socio-cultural groups, mainly of Muslim (N=318) and Catholic (N=248) religion. The FCIPAT questionnaire considers a total of 118 variables, including demographic variables, eating habits, food preferences, psychosocial variables and food consumption. Results: Among other aspects, the results show that the test was useful in discriminating between the most influential psychosocial factors in the most recommended food groups (natural juices, fruit and vegetables) and those least recommended (sweets and fast food). For the most recommended foods, the most important factors were accessibility, beliefs about alcohol and self-control. For the least recommended, the most important factors were interest in diet and self-control. In this work, the religion was not found to be a predictor of any specific food-related behaviour. Discussion and Conclusions: We discuss the novelty of some results obtained, such as the influence of beliefs about alcohol, as well as the possible uniformising effect of globalisation on cultural eating habits. Some implications for educational intervention that aims to change the eating habits of adolescents also discussed. © Education & Psychology I+D+i and Editorial EOS (Spain).