The effects of gain- and loss-framed nutritional messages on children’s healthy eating behaviour

Abstract

Objective:Despite extensive research on framing effects in public health communication, there is still a lack of knowledge on how gain frames v. loss frames can encourage healthy eating behaviour among children.Design:Drawing on the Prospect Theory as well as on the Reactivity of Embedded Food Cues in Advertising Model, an experiment exposed children to an audio-visual cartoon movie with gain-framed nutritional messages about eating fruit (gain condition), loss-framed nutritional messages about eating fruit (loss condition) or a message without any food (control group). Children’s fruit intake was measured as the dependent variable. Children’s awareness of gain- and loss-framed arguments was treated as mediators, while children’s age and parents’ self-reported food-related mediation styles were modelled as moderators.Setting:Vienna, Austria, in 2018.Participants:Children aged 6–10 years (N 161).Results:Children in the gain frame group were more aware of gain-framed arguments, and children in the loss frame group were more aware of loss-framed arguments than those in the control group. However, only the mediator awareness of gain-framed arguments increased fruit intake. Additionally, there was a direct effect of the gain-framed message on fruit intake compared to the control group. The loss condition did not reveal such an effect. Neither parent’s food-related mediation styles nor children’s age moderated those results.Conclusion:Gain-framing seems to be more effective in influencing children’s healthy food choices compared to loss-framing. Implications for health communication strategies aimed at children are discussed.

Shaping Healthy Eating Habits in Children With Persuasive Strategies: Toward a Typology

“…The third pillar, information-related characteristics, can be described as the most heterogeneous one. While some presentation strategies have been found to influence the healthy eating behavior of children positively (e.g., gain framing, affective cognitive arguments) (30,80,93), other components have been hardly (e.g., threat appeals) (86), or not at all studied…”

“…The level of integration can not only vary based on compositional factors or source-related factors. Also which information is connected with a HF presentation can influence the reactions of the children ( 30 , 80 ). Current studies can be roughly classified along with two forms of presentation: ( 1 ) what information is connected with HFs (i.e., emphasis frames) and ( 2 ) how identical chunks of information are presented (i.e., equivalence frames) ( 41 ).…”

“…This assumption is based on different degrees of risk assessment of these behaviors: While detection behaviors potentially involve high financial costs as well as possible negative consequences and are therefore evaluated as risky, prevention behaviors involve little financial costs and not conducting this behavior could be risky ( 92 ). Existing studies already indicate that presenting gain arguments in connection with HF presentations in media presents a good strategy to influence intentions and real consumption behavior of the children positively ( 80 , 93 ). Therefore, more gain arguments should be used in HF presentations.…”

“…The third pillar, information-related characteristics, can be described as the most heterogeneous one. While some presentation strategies have been found to influence the healthy eating behavior of children positively (e.g., gain framing, affective cognitive arguments) ( 30 , 80 , 93 ), other components have been hardly (e.g., threat appeals) ( 86 ), or not at all studied (appearance- vs. health-framing, reward presentations) ( 64 , 89 ). Thus, qualitative studies are needed as a first step to gain detailed insights into how children evaluate and react when being exposed to these message factors.…”

Management Accounting for Healthy Nutrition Education: Meta-Analysis

“…A healthy diet must be: (i) complete, since it must provide all the nutrients the body needs; (ii) balanced, since the nutrients must be proportionate (carbohydrates-CHO: 55-60% of the total kcal per day; fats: 25-30%; and proteins: 12-15%), and include drinking 1.5-2 L of water a day; (iii) sufficient, since the amount of food must be adequate to keep the weight in the normal range and, in children, achieve proportional growth and development; (iv) adapted to age, sex, height, physical activity carried out, work carried out by the person and their state of health; (v) varied, since it will contain different foods from each of the groups (dairy, fruits, vegetables, cereals, legumes, meat and poultry or fish, among others) to guarantee all the necessary nutrients [58][59][60][61].…”