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Jang and Choi: Middle School Students' Perception of Environment-friendly Agricultural Products (EAPs) and the Degree of Confidence about the Certification Mark in Daegu
Original Article

Korean Journal of Community Nutrition 2013; 18(4): 324-332.

Published online: 31 August 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2013.18.4.324

Middle School Students' Perception of Environment-friendly Agricultural Products (EAPs) and the Degree of Confidence about the Certification Mark in Daegu

Ji-Yeon Jang, Mi-Kyung Choi1

Department of Nutrition Education, Graduate School of Education, Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea.

1Department of Food and Nutrition, Keimyung University, Daegu, Korea.

Corresponding author: Mi Kyung Choi, Department of Food and Nutrition, Keimyung University, Daegu 704-701, Korea. Tel: (053) 580-5872, Fax: (053) 580-5885, mkchoi@kmu.ac.kr

Received 8 May 2013       Revised 3 July 2013       Accepted 16 July 2013

Copyright © 2013 The Korean Society of Community Nutrition

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate middle school students' perception of environment-friendly agricultural products (EAPs) and the degree of confidence about the certification mark. Questionnaires were distributed to 444 students of 6 middle schools located in Daegu, and a total of 416 responses were used for analysis. 28.6% of the respondents were using EAPs at home, and 62.0% of respondents didn't know whether to use EAPs at home. The 6 items representing the perception of EAPs were analyzed, resulting in 2 distinct dimensions-'benefits of EAPs' and 'attitude toward EAPs'. Regarding Benefits of EAPs, the score of 'EAPs better for health' was the highest, followed by 'EAPs have higher quality', 'EAPs were better for environmental protection', respectively. The proportion of students responded that 'the amount of pesticides should be reduced gradually' was 65.5% and only 3.4% for 'current level of pesticide use is not a problem'. There were significant differences between male and female students with regard to an interest in EAPs (p < 0.05) and opinion on the use of pesticides (p < 0.05), while no significant difference was found between groups with different education level of mothers. The respondents who use EAPs at home showed significantly higher scores with attitude toward EAPs (p < 0.001), and higher response rate for 'pesticides should not be used even if the price increases' (p < 0.05). Degree of confidence about the EAPs certification mark also affected students' perception of EAPs (p < 0.001). Our results indicate the importance of education for students on EAPs to enhance students' attitude towards EAPs and improve school meal satisfaction.

Keywords: middle school student, environment-friendly agricultural product, certification mark

Figures and Tables

Table 1
General characteristics of respondents
kjcn-18-324-i001

1) N (%)

Table 2
Validity and reliability of the measure
kjcn-18-324-i002
Table 3
Perception of EAPs
kjcn-18-324-i003

1) Mean ± SD, Likert style 7 point scale: 'Not at all' (1), 'Strongly agree' (7)

Table 4
Opinion on the use of pesticides
kjcn-18-324-i004

1) N (%)

Table 5
Degree of confidence about the EAPs certification mark
kjcn-18-324-i005

1) N (%)

Table 6
The association of perception on EAPs and use at home
kjcn-18-324-i006

1) Mean ± SD, Likert style 7 point scale: 'Not at all' (1), 'Strongly agree' (7)

2) N (%)

ab: Values with different superscripts within a row are significantly different as assessed by the Scheffe's multiple range test (p < 0.05).

Table 7
The association of perception on EAPs and degree of confidence about the EAPs certification mark
kjcn-18-324-i007

1) Mean ± SD, Likert style 7 point scale: 'Not at all' (1), 'Strongly agree' (7)

2) N (%)

ab: Values with different superscripts within a row are significantly different as assessed by the Scheffe's multiple range test (p < 0.05).

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