Abstract
Objectives
This study aimed to evaluate sex differences in dietary habits and the moderating
effect of self-efficacy on the adoption of a healthy diet.
Design
Cross-sectional study.
Setting
The healthy population of Tehran, Iran.
Participants
A total of 262 participants from the general population with normal health status.
Main Outcome Measure
The adoption of a healthy diet was based on the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015)
scores and the moderating effect of self-efficacy on eating behaviors.
Analysis
Logistic regression analysis and multiple linear regression (moderation) analysis
were conducted using PROCESS macro (version 3.5).
Results
The sex-based analysis revealed that females were more likely to adopt a healthy diet
vs males (adjusted odds ratio, 1.85; 95% confidence interval, 1.02–3.35). The moderation
analysis showed that eating behavior self-efficacy significantly moderated the relationship
between sex differences and HEI-2015 scores (ΔR
2
= 0.01; P = 0.033). Males with low self-efficacy scores had the highest difference in HEI-2015
with females with low self-efficacy scores, whereas the difference in HEI-2015 was
very small in males and females with high self-efficacy scores.Conclusions and Implications
Eating behavior self-efficacy had a significantly decreasing moderating effect on
sex differences in the adoption of a healthy diet. Future research needs to clarify
the impact of eating`` behavior self-efficacy in the adoption of a healthy diet, particularly
in males, and to confirm the study's findings.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
May 29,
2021
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
