Abstract:
To examine the relationships among attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, intention to healthy eating behaviors of early adolescents in Songkla province. Study sample consisted of 400 lower secondary students in 3 schools in Songkla province. Subjects were selected by multistage random sampling. Instruments included the demographic data questionnaire, attitude towards healthy eating behaviors questionnaire, subjective norm questionnaire, perceived behavioral control questionnaire, intention to healthy eating behaviors questionnaire and healthy eating behaviors questionnaire. Content validity for all questionnaires was established by a panel of experts. Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the instruments were .80, .89, .87, .84, and .50, respectively. Descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation and stepwise multiple regression were used for statistical analysis. The results were as follows 1. Early adolescents in Songkla province had medium level of healthy eating behaviors. 2.There were positive correlations between attitude towards healthy eating behaviors, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention with healthy eating behaviors of early adolescents in Songkla province, at the level of .05 (r = .253, .281, .337, and .378 respectively). 3. Perceived behavioral control and intention significantly predicted 15.3% of the variance of healthy eating behaviors in early adolescents in Songkla province, at the level of .05, The equation derived from the standardized score was: Healthy eating behaviors = .136Z intention + .110Z Perceived behavioral control.