Suchergebnisse

Purpose. To examine the construct validity and 2-month test-retest reliability of a staging measure for assessing readiness to consume five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables among economically disadvantaged African-American adolescents. Design. Longitudinal survey. Setting. Youth services agencies serving low-income communities in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Subjects. African-American adolescents (N = 390) aged 11 to 14 years. Measures. Self-report measures of stage of change and fruit and vegetable consumption. Analysis. Correlation analysis and analysis of covariance were used to examine, cross-sectionally, whether fruit and vegetable consumption differed by stage of change (validity assessment). Correlation analysis and Cohen's kappa (κ) were used to assess the degree of association and level of agreement between stages longitudinally (test-retest reliability assessment). Results. Fruit and vegetable consumption was moderately correlated with stage of change (r ≥ .54, p = .000). Consistent with the transtheoretical model, youths' consumption increased from earlier to later stages (p = .000). Forty-six percent of youths were in the same stage at both measurements. The correlation between stages was .26, and Cohen's κ was .20 (p = .000). Conclusions. Despite preliminary evidence of construct validity, the low test-retest reliability found suggests that further research and testing are needed to improve the stability of the measure.

Research has supported the effectiveness of narratives for promoting health behavior, but different narrative presentation formats (serial vs. episodic) have seldom been compared. Suspense theories suggest that serial narratives, which do not provide a full resolution at the end of an episode, may create higher motivation for continued engagement with a story. Forty-four 8 to 12-year-old children were randomly assigned to watch an animation series designed for an existing active video game in which the plot was delivered either continuously across multiple episodes (serial) or in multiple yet relatively independent self-contained episodes (episodic). Controlling for social desirability, children who watched the serial narrative had significantly more moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and step counts while the episodic group's gameplay duration decreased, especially during later visits. There was no difference in self-reported narrative immersion or physical activity intention. Serial narratives can result in more time spent in MVPA behaviors than episodic narratives.