Breakfast consumption determinants among female high school students of Yazd Province based on Pender’s Health Promotion Model

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Despite the importance of breakfast, especially for students, unfortunately, this meal is usually ignored in daily routine. The aim of this study was to identify determinants among female high school students of Yazd province based on the Pender Health Promotion Model. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted to examine 200 female high school students of Yazd, selected by cluster sampling method in 2016. A researcher-made questionnaire, based on Pender’s Health Promotion Model, was used as a data collection tool. A panel of experts and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were used to confirm the questionnaire validity and reliability. In order to analyze descriptive data, SPSS version 22 was used. AMOS software (v.23) was employed for path analysis. RESULTS: Direct impact of activity –related affect (0.300), interpersonal influences (0.276), and perceived barriers to eating breakfast (−0.223) were approved at significance level p<0.000. By influencing perceived barriers, perceived self-efficacy and previous related behavior indirectly affected breakfast consumption. These components determined 33% of breakfast consumption. CONCLUSION: By planning to create a positive feeling in students to have breakfast, to involve family and friends to encourage students to eat breakfast, to reduce barriers to have breakfast by increasing students’ self-efficacy, the behavior of having breakfast among students can be improved.