A Study on the Relationship between Food Hygiene Recognition, Food Hygiene Attitude, and Personal Hygiene Control in College Students using A Structural Equation Model

Abstract

This research aimed to provide fundamental data required for food hygiene education by analyzing relationships between food hygiene recognition, food hygiene attitude, and personal hygiene control in H college students in Chungnam province using a structural equation model. The survey period was from May 16 to June 30, 2019, and 1,048 responses were analyzed after excluding non-collected and inadequately completed responses. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation analysis were conducted using SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 24.0. Modified models were analyzed because initial models poorly fitted data. The modified confirmatory factor analysis model showed good fitness with CFI=0.953, NFI=0.945, TLI=0.925, RMSEA=0.069. Factor loading (standardized estimates) confirmed that the 15 measured variables represented latent variables well and that latent variables were correlated at a significance level of 0.001. The modified structural equation model showed good fitness with CFI=0.953, NFI=0.945, TLI=0.906, and RMSEA=0.069. The path coefficients for the 17 hypotheses were all statistically significant, and thus all the alternative hypotheses were accepted. Food hygiene recognition was found to have a significant effect on food hygiene attitude (β=0.384, p<.001), and food hygiene attitude had a significant effect on personal hygiene control (β=0.909, p<0.001). Food hygiene recognition had a weak effect on food hygiene attitude, but food hygiene attitude had a stronger effect on personal hygiene control. These results demonstrate the need for regular food hygiene education to improve food hygiene attitude because it had a greater influence on personal hygiene control than food hygiene recognition.