Abstract
To date, there is little knowledge about how experiences in childhood frame adults’ food and drink consumption patterns in the context of attending sporting events as spectators. Therefore, the goal of this study was to explore the childhood memories of adults when they visited sporting events and find out whether and why this particular setting makes individuals indulge in unhealthy food. The study comprises two components: Study 1 and Study 2. In Study 1, 30 individuals recalled their childhood experiences of sport stadium visits at the age of ten years or younger. Inductive coding of the stories revealed that on-site enjoyment is an important factor that may lead to unhealthy food consumption. In Study 2 (n = 240), the effect of enjoyment on the intentions to eat unhealthy versus healthy food at sporting events was tested empirically and contrasted with two other leisure-time activities. The results of the experiment revealed that it is not enjoyment, but the visit to sporting or music events (versus a flea market) that increased the preference for unhealthy versus healthy foods. Implications to decrease (increase) the preference for unhealthy (healthy) food in these particular settings against the background of childhood experiences can be drawn.
Highlights
What food and drinks do you associate with your family’s most recent visit to a baseball game? It would be of little surprise if you mentioned that your children had hotdogs and soft drinks
This is despite the fact that the food that is provided to children when attending sporting events has been subjected to criticism, because of its low nutritional value and high calorie density [4,5]
If childhood memories about the association between food and sporting event attendance as spectators are important, it is crucial that children are exposed to healthy, and not to unhealthy, food environments today, because these contextual factors influence behavioral patterns later in life
Summary
What food and drinks do you associate with your family’s most recent visit to a baseball game? It would be of little surprise if you mentioned that your children had hotdogs and soft drinks. The attendance of sporting events as a spectator, has not been researched extensively yet, with regard to people’s eating and drinking behaviors that are potentially influenced by childhood experiences. This is despite the fact that the food that is provided to children (and adults) when attending sporting events has been subjected to criticism, because of its low nutritional value and high calorie density [4,5]. If childhood memories about the association between food and sporting event attendance as spectators are important, it is crucial that children are exposed to healthy, and not to unhealthy, food environments today (arguing from the perspective of public policy), because these contextual factors influence behavioral patterns later in life
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