Encouraging children to eat more fruit and vegetables: Health vs. descriptive social norm-based messages

Sharps, Maxine; Robinson, Eric

doi:10.1016/j.appet.2016.01.031

Cited by 54 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(93 reference statements)

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“…Other similar studies have reported that social norm‐based messages are effective in reducing actual intake of ‘junk’ food in adults in the laboratory (Robinson et al . ) and can promote the consumption of vegetables by children (Sharps & Robinson ). In addition, it has been reported that a social norm intervention targeting fruit and vegetable intake resulted in an increase in skin carotenoids, an indicator of carotenoid‐containing fruit and vegetable intake over 8 weeks (Wengreen et al .…”

Section: Social Norms and Their Influence On Eatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using social norms to encourage healthier eating

et al. 2019

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What and how much people choose to eat is influenced by social context. People tend to use the eating habits of others as a guide to appropriate consumption. This suggests that one way of encouraging healthier eating would be to provide information about the healthy eating choices of others. Research conducted as part of an Economic and Social Research Council‐funded project investigated the effect of providing information about how others eat on the purchase and consumption of vegetables in both laboratory and in field settings (restaurants). In a laboratory‐based study, we found that that while overall vegetable intake was not increased, exposure to a novel ‘liking norm’ message increased the selection and intake of broccoli from a buffet by participants who were low habitual consumers of vegetables. We also found that the liking norm increased broccoli intake even when there was a delay between exposure to the message and selection at the buffet, suggesting that the effects of social message exposure may persist beyond initial exposure. In two online studies and a laboratory study, we found that the effect of exposure to a descriptive social norm message on eating intentions and intake was moderated by the participants’ motivation to identify with the norm referent group. In three intervention studies, exposure to social norm messaging was associated with increased purchases of meals with vegetables in restaurant settings. Taken together, these results suggest that it is feasible to use social norm messages in restaurant settings and they provide information that could be used to implement randomised controlled trials.

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Section: Social Norms and Their Influence On Eatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using social norms to encourage healthier eating

et al. 2019

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“…For example, learning that others in a laboratory study have been eating a lot of food typically results in participants increasing their food intake (Prinsen et al, 2013; Robinson and Field, 2015). Likewise, it has been shown that if children are led to believe that their peers are eating a lot of vegetables they increase their own consumption of vegetables (Sharps and Robinson, 2015, 2016). A smaller number of intervention studies have examined whether providing consumers with information about descriptive peer norms influences future consumer behavior measured immediately afterwards or up to 1 week later, but results have been mixed (Stok et al, 2012; Mollen et al, 2013; Robinson et al, 2013b, 2014a; de Bruijn et al, 2015; Verkooijen et al, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Longitudinal Associations between Perceived Descriptive Peer Norms and Eating and Drinking Behavior: An Initial Examination in Young Adults

Jones

Robinson

2017

Front. Psychol.

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Experimental and cross-sectional studies indicate that perceptions of the eating and drinking behavior of one's peers (perceived descriptive peer norms) are associated with the types, frequency and quantity of food, and beverages a person chooses to consume. At present, we know very little about the longitudinal association between perceived descriptive peer norms and future eating or drinking behavior. In this study, we examined whether perceived descriptive peer norms for different food/beverage types predicted frequency of consumption of food/beverages in university students. Three hundred and forty participants completed measures at baseline and follow-up for frequency of consumption of cakes/pastries, sugar containing beverages, and alcoholic beverages, as well as measures of perceived descriptive peer norms at both time points. Perceived descriptive peer norms predicted consumption of pastries/cakes at follow up when controlling for changes in these perceptions over time; believing that one's peers frequently consumed cakes/pastries was associated with an increased frequency of consumption over time, although the magnitude of this effect was small. There was no significant association between perceived descriptive peer norms and changes in frequency of consumption of sugar containing beverages or alcohol over time. In the present longitudinal study of young adults, beliefs about how often one's peers eat or drink specific food and beverages types had limited effect on future eating and drinking behavior.

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“…That is, selected peers were secretly instructed to promote water drinking by increasing their own water drinking behavior and talking about the benefits of water drinking to others, which increased water drinking and decreased the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among their class mates. Other experimental studies found that adolescents increased their vegetable intake after exposing them to information about the amount that their peers ate (21,22). In addition, an online study found that an injunctive peer norm promoting fruit and vegetable intake was associated with higher self-reported fruit and vegetable intake as well as lower unhealthy snack food intake (19).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Exploring the directionality in the relationship between descriptive and injunctive parental and peer norms and snacking behavior in a three-year-cross-lagged study

Bevelander¹,

Burk²,

Smit³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background. People’s eating behavior is assumed to be influenced by what other people do (perceived descriptive norms) and what others approve of (perceived injunctive norms). It has been suggested that adolescents are more susceptible to peer norms than parental norms, because they experience a strong need for group acceptance that leads to conforming to peer group norms. The current study examined changes in snacking behavior and four types of social norms (i.e., parental and peer descriptive and injunctive norms) that promoted fruit and vegetable intake among adolescents. This study was the first to examine whether snacking behavior also influenced norm perceptions by testing the directionality of these associations.Methods. The study consisted of 819 participants (M [SD] age = 11.19 [1.36]; 46.1% boys), collected at three time points (T1 = 2016, T2 = 2017 and T3 = 2018) during the MyMovez project. Self-reported frequency of snack consumption, perceived parental and peer descriptive and injunctive norms were assessed. The primary analysis consisted of a series of cross-lagged autoregressive models specified in a structural equation modeling framework. Results. Model comparisons testing the descriptive and injunctive norms in separate models and in an additional combined model revealed evidence for bi-directional associations between norms and snacking behavior. Descriptive peer and parent norms were not found to have an effect on subsequent snacking behaviors. Perceived injunctive parental norms were positively associated with healthy snack food intake and negatively associated with unhealthy snack intake (forward direction). Injunctive peer norms were negatively associated with healthy snack food intake. In addition, higher unhealthy snack food intake was negatively associated with the perception of descriptive and injunctive parental norms one year later (reversed direction). We did not find peer norms to be more closely associated with changes in snacking behaviors compared to parental norms. Conclusions. Parents expecting their children to snack healthy had a positive influence on healthy snacking behavior whereas only acting as a healthy role model did not. Future research should address the possible interaction between descriptive and injunctive norms. Research should also take into account the bi-directional relations between eating behaviors and normative perceptions.

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Encouraging children to eat more fruit and vegetables: Health vs. descriptive social norm-based messages

Cited by 54 publications

References 43 publications

Using social norms to encourage healthier eating

Using social norms to encourage healthier eating

The Longitudinal Associations between Perceived Descriptive Peer Norms and Eating and Drinking Behavior: An Initial Examination in Young Adults

Exploring the directionality in the relationship between descriptive and injunctive parental and peer norms and snacking behavior in a three-year-cross-lagged study

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