The effectiveness of guided goal setting on dietary and physical activity self-efficacy and behaviors of middle school adolescents

We investigated the effect of guided goal setting on middle school adolescents' dietary and physical activity self-efficacy and behaviors.; A convenience sample of 136 participants was drawn from an urban middle school in a low-income community in Central California. Participants were randomly assigned to treatment (EatFit intervention with goal setting) or control (EatFit intervention without goal setting).; The goal setting component of the EatFit intervention engaged students in personal assessment of eating and physical activity behaviors. Students set one dietary and one physical activity goal, based on the results of the personal assessment. To ensure appropriately designed goals, yet provide for student autonomy, guided goal setting (pre-formulated goals containing attributes such as specificity, difficulty, and proximity) was developed specifically for this age group.; Ninety-four ethnically diverse 8th grade participants were included in the analysis (55% male).; Chi square tests revealed more treatment participants made improvements in dietary behaviors (p = 0.04) and physical activity self-efficacy (p = 0.01) compared to control participants.; Treatment participants who made goal effort scored significantly higher on dietary behavior (p = 0.02), physical activity behavior (p = 0.04) and physical activity self-efficacy (p = 0.04) variables than control participants who did not spontaneously set goals (ANCOVA).; Those participants who set a specific goal to increase strength activities rated themselves as having significantly higher self-efficacy to participate in strength training activities compared to the those who did not set a strength goal (p = 0.04). No other significant differences were found between groups for other physical activity or dietary goals.; The EatFit intervention with guided goal setting enhanced treatment participants' dietary behaviors, physical activity self-efficacy and behaviors compared the control participants receiving the EatFit intervention without guided goal setting, when accounting for goal effort and spontaneous goal setting.