Do ethnicity and gender matter when using the theory of planned behavior to understand fruit and vegetable consumption?

A majority of Americans do not meet the recommendation to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables per day (5-A-Day). The purpose of the present study was to examine the utility of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) for understanding 5-A-Day intentions and behavior and to determine whether any of the TPB relationships were moderated by ethnicity or gender. A total of 413 participants completed a baseline TPB questionnaire and a fruit and vegetable consumption measure 2 weeks later. Path analyses showed that affective attitude and perceived behavioral control significantly predicted intention for blacks, whites, males and females (R² ranged from .32 to .40), whereas subjective norm was a significant predictor for blacks, males, and females only. Intention significantly predicted 5-A-Day (R² ranged from .17 to .22) for all groups. Follow-up invariance analyses showed that the subjective norm/intention relationship was significantly stronger for black compared to white students. Finally, several key beliefs were identified for all four demographic groups. Therefore, the current results suggest that the TPB may be a useful framework to utilize when developing 5-A-Day interventions.