Development of a nutrition knowledge scale for elementary school students: Toward a national surveillance system

Improving nutrition knowledge, one determinant of dietary behavior, is a national health priority for adults and youth. Whereas sophisticated national surveillance systems have been established to monitor adult and youth cardiovascular risk factors and dietary habits as well as adults' nutrition knowledge, less attention has been given to monitoring knowledge levels in youth. This article reports development of two nutrition knowledge scales, one for grades two through three and the second for grades four through six, which were administered to a nationally representative sample of 3,107 youth from 129 schools. Internal consistency for the two scales exceeded conventional acceptability criteria for each major gender, ethnic, and geographic group surveyed, and the instrument appears viable for a large proportion of U.S. youth. Results indicate significant nutrition knowledge gaps among U.S. children, and several groups with excess knowledge deficits were identified. The instrument, and results reported herein, can serve as the basis for a national nutrition knowledge monitoring system, as well as a needs assessment and program evaluation tool for practitioners.