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. 2021 Sep 29;13(10):3451.
doi: 10.3390/nu13103451.

Nutrition Literacy Mediates the Relationships between Multi-Level Factors and College Students' Healthy Eating Behavior: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study

I-Ju Lai  1 , Li-Chun Chang  2   3 , Chia-Kuei Lee  4 , Li-Ling Liao  5
Affiliations

Nutrition Literacy Mediates the Relationships between Multi-Level Factors and College Students' Healthy Eating Behavior: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study

I-Ju Lai et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

College students experience new pressures and choices as they transition to independent living and can easily develop unhealthy eating habits, resulting in obesity and obesity-related chronic diseases in later life. This study aimed to test the hypothesis that nutrition literacy (NL) mediated the relationship between multi-level factors influencing healthy eating behavior identified from the social-ecological model and healthy eating behavior of college students. A four-part questionnaire was completed by 412 participants recruited from six different four-year universities in Taiwan (effective response rate = 85.8%). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, an independent samples t-test, hierarchical multiple regression, and mediation analysis. The results indicated that the students' mean nutrition literacy score was 4.32 (SD = 0.78, range = 1-6). In the social-ecological framework, nutrition literacy significantly predicted healthy eating behavior (β = 0.28, p < 0.001; ΔF = 32.54, p < 0.001; ΔR2 = 0.05) with control variables of background, intrapersonal, interpersonal, environmental, and macrosystem factors. Nutrition literacy mediated the effects of seven factors on healthy eating behavior across four levels. These findings suggested that strengthening influential multi-level factors associated with healthy eating behavior not only enhanced NL, but also improved individuals' healthy eating behavior.

Keywords: college students; healthy eating behavior; nutrition literacy; social ecological model.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declared no potential conflict of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A graphical example of the mediating effect of NL, (*** p < 0.001).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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