A values-alignment intervention protects adolescents from the effects of food marketing

Abstract

Adolescents are exposed to extensive marketing for junk food, which drives overconsumption by creating positive emotional associations with junk food1–6. Here we counter this influence with an intervention that frames manipulative food marketing as incompatible with important adolescent values, including autonomy from adult control and social justice. In a pre-registered, longitudinal, randomized, controlled field experiment, we show that this framing intervention reduces boys’ and girls’ implicit positive associations with junk food marketing and substantially improves boys’ daily dietary choices in the school cafeteria. Both of these effects were sustained for at least 3 months. These findings suggest that reframing unhealthy dietary choices as incompatible with important values could be low-cost, scalable solution to producing lasting, internalized change in adolescents’ dietary attitudes and choices.

Science that can change the world

“…Part of the answer lies in understanding the psychology of the group whose behaviour needs to be changed. For example, in this issue, Chris Bryan and colleagues leverage two important facts about adolescents to promote healthy eating behaviour in eighth-graders attending school in rural and suburban Texas (https://www.nature.com/ articles/s41562-019-0586-6) 1 . Anybody who remembers their own (or their children's or grandchildren's) adolescence can attest to the fact that adolescents generally want to be independent and out from under the yoke of adult control.…”

“…Nature Human Behaviour aims to be a forum for this exchange, publishing both basic science and intervention studies that we disseminate not only to researchers in diverse fields working at different levels but also to the general population. A small change cannot have a large impact unless we work together, across levels of science, publishing and policy to be sure that the type of exchanges that led to the success of Bryan and colleagues' study 1 are encouraged, talked about and implemented at a large scale so that behavioural science can be used to change the world for better. ❐…”

Potential Preventive Strategies for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

“…This is an extremely difficult task, but not impossible. The recent study in a group of adolescents has proved that the special psychological intervention, presenting unhealthy dietary choices as incompatible with important values, can change youngsters' dietary attitudes toward healthy food (Bryan et al, 2019).…”

Behaviour change interventions: getting in touch with individual differences, values and emotions

“…A growing number of behavioural scientists are advocating a paradigm shift in how we think about and design health interventions from a prescriptive biomedical model to more holistic person-centred approaches. [24][25][26] Even though we know emotions and motivations are major drivers in how we behave, 27 we are only just beginning to think about interventions that might appeal to these.…”