Abstract:
The purposes of this investigation were to study the affect of predisposing factors, enabling factors and reinforcing factors towards food consumption behavior among the elderly in Bangkok Metropolis and to study the relationships between those factors and food consumption behavior. Four hundred and twenty questionnaires were personally distributed to the elderly and one hundred percent of questionnaires were returned. The data were then analyzed in terms of means percentages standard deviations including Pearsons product moment correlation and multiple regressions were also applied in this study.
The results were as follows:
1. There were mostly found three positive practices regarding food consumption behavior among the elderly in drinking 6-8 cups of water during the day (84.8%), consuming of green leaf vegetables (76%), and fresh fruits consuming (71.7%) respectively. However, there were also mostly found three negative behaviors regarding drinking coffee and tea (24.3%), strong taste consumption (13.3%) with habits of adding sugar and salt in their meals (23.6%).
2. There were found significantly at .01 in the relationship of food consumption behavior between predisposing factors regarding both knowledge (r=.176) and belief (r=.180) and reinforcing factors regarding family members(r=.480) and peer groups (r=.368).
3. Both predisposing factors regarding knowledge and belief and reinforcing factors regarding family members and peer groups in food consumption behavior were found significantly at .01 to predict food consumption behavior among the elderly (39.4%).