LAUSR

Objectives This study was to investigate whether social cognitive measures toward healthy eating are related to diet quality and eating behaviors among marriage immigrant women in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Methods A questionnaire was based on the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) and included the personal, behavioral and environmental factors from the SCT. The questionnaire developed by literature review, qualitative interviews, and pilot field test. The quality of diet and eating behaviors were assessed using the Nutrition Quotient for adults (NQ-A), which was validated and translated into subjects' mother tongue. The survey was conducted on 153 marriage immigrant women from China, Vietnam, Japan, Philippines, Cambodia, Mongolia, Taiwan and Russia residing in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. Around 49.0% of subjects (n = 75) need monitoring according to the NQ-A scores. Results First, in personal factors assessing importance and confidence for healthy eating, scores of self-evaluative outcome expectations and self-efficacy were lower in subjects required monitoring compared to their counterparts. Second, in behavioral factors, a half of questions regarding behavioral strategies for healthy eating showed lower scores in subjects required monitoring. Last, in environmental factors, scores of social support were also lower in the monitoring required group, which indicates they were less likely to receive help from family members for healthy eating than their counterparts. Conclusions The results from this study suggest that individual dietary behaviors can be changed by individual, behavioral, and environmental factors from the perspective of social cognitive theory. Funding Sources This study was supported by the grants from Seoul Metropolitan Government and the National Research Foundation of Korea.