Following family or friends. Social norms in adolescent healthy eating

The potential of peer social norms to shape food intake in adolescents and young adults: a systematic review of effects and moderators

“…In other words; situations that are associated with peers are more likely to activate peer norms, while other social contexts (most notably the home situation, in the company of parents and family) may more likely activate family or parental social norms (cf. Pedersen, Grønhøj, & Thøgersen, 2015). Consideration of this potential moderator may help explain previously conflicting findings regarding the role and influential power of parents or peers in shaping young people's eating behaviour, with some studies finding a larger role for parents and some studies finding a larger role for peers.…”

“…When the norm referent group was a group of more distal peers, there was no such association. The injunctive norm was positively associated with healthy eating intentions regardless of whether the norm referent group consisted of close friends or more distal peers 14 Pedersen et al (2015) The descriptive norm was positively associated with consumption of fruits and vegetables (combined measures), while the injunctive norm was negatively associated with consumption of fruits and vegetables 15 Wood Baker, Little, and Brownell (2003) The combined descriptive/injunctive norm was indirectly (through attitude) positively associated with healthy eating intentions and actual healthy eating 16 Thompson, Bachman, Watson, Baranowski, and Weber Cullen (2007) The combined descriptive/injunctive norm was positively associated with consumption of low-fat milk and total milk consumption, and negatively associated with soft drink consumption 17 Thompson, Bachman, Baranowski, and Weber Cullen (2007) The descriptive norm was positively associated with consumption of fruits and vegetables (measured separately)…”

Factors influencing the frequency of children's consumption of soft drinks

“…Data were collected from parents because of their critical roles in controlling the supply of food in the home and modelling food consumption behaviours to their children (Birch & Fisher, 1998;Brown & Ogden, 2004;Golan, 2006;Skouteris et al, 2012). The selected child age range reflects a period in which children's soft drink consumption increases dramatically (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2014), and is similar to that used in other studies of parents' food-related attitudes and behaviours (Nansel et al, 2013;Pedersen, Grønhøj, & Thøgersen, 2015;Rawlins, Baker, Maynard, & Harding, 2013;Zarnowiecki, Dollman, & Parletta, 2014). In the Australian context, children in this age group tend to have suboptimal diets because they consume almost 40% of their daily energy from foods and beverages classified as 'discretionary foods' due to their high levels of sugar, fat, and/or salt (ABS, 2014).…”

Adolescents’ Needs Towards School-Based Nutrition Interventions

“…Interventions should strengthen their food preparation abilities and enhance their motivation to pack a healthy school lunch. This affirmation is supported by programs which, by adopting this behavior focused strategy, managed to have a long-term positive influence on adolescents' food choices [15,21,36,37].…”