Readiness to shop for low-fat foods: a population study.

Background: Stages of change are related to dietary fat consumption. Few studies have examined stage occupation within the context of purchasing low-fat foods.

Objective: To determine the stage-prevalence of individuals for purchasing low-fat foods; identify the frequency of misclassification into action and maintenance (A/M) stages for purchasing for low-fat foods; and explain the demographic and cognitive-variable differences between pseudo (or false positive) A/M and true A/M individuals.