Health concern, food choice motives, and attitudes toward healthy eating: The mediating role of food choice motives

This study addresses how various health concerns might influence not only consumers' food choice motives but also consumers' subsequent attitudes toward healthy eating. This study expects that those consumers with greater health concerns would have different food choice motives and better attitudes toward healthy eating. A self-completion questionnaire was used to gather information. Participants, a random sample of 500 undergraduate students from a national university in Taipei, Taiwan, provided a total of 456 usable questionnaires, representing a valid response rate of 91%. The average age of the respondents at the time of the survey was 21 years and 63% of respondents were females. The relationship between health concern and healthy eating attitudes was confirmed. The relationship between health concern of developing diseases and attitudes toward healthy eating was fully mediated by food choice motives. However, the relationship between calorie consumption health concern and healthy eating attitudes was only partially mediated by food choice motives. Implications of these findings are discussed. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.