Food Availability, Motivational-Related Factors, and Food Consumption: A Path Model Study with Children.

Beatriz Pereira,Paula Magalhães,Pedro Rosário,José Carlos Núñez,Cristina Roces,Daniela Rosendo

doi:10.3390/ijerph182412897

Abstract

The promotion of children’s healthy eating is a key public health priority. However, children’s food consumption is a complex phenomenon with several contributing factors, and there is a call to continue developing comprehensive models with several variables acting simultaneously. The present study aimed to examine the role different motivational-related variables (e.g., self-regulation, self-efficacy) may play in children’s consumption of healthy and unhealthy foods. To address this goal, data were collected in a sample of 242 fifth and sixth graders with access to both healthy and unhealthy foods at home. A path model was conducted to analyze networks of relationships between motivational-related variables and children’s healthy and unhealthy eating. The gender variable was included as a covariate to control its effect. The data showed that self-regulation for healthy eating mediates the relationship between the predictor variables (i.e., knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy) and the type of food consumption (healthy and unhealthy). Current data contribute to understanding the complexity behind food consumption by providing a comprehensive model with motivational-related factors associated with both healthy and unhealthy eating. The present findings are likely to help inform the development of early preventive interventions focused on the promotion of healthy eating.

Highlights

Promoting children’s healthy eating is a key public health priority to prevent chronic diseases and maintain health, well-being, and school performance [1–3]
Self-regulation, self-efficacy, knowledge, and attitudes are positively associated with healthy eating and negatively with unhealthy eating
In the current model, self-efficacy showed a positive effect on SR stronger than that found for attitudes about healthy eating

Summary

Introduction

Promoting children’s healthy eating is a key public health priority to prevent chronic diseases (e.g., obesity, diabetes) and maintain health, well-being, and school performance [1–3]. To help achieve this public health goal, international organizations have been establishing eating guidelines for children, advocating the intake of five pieces of fruits and vegetables (F/V) per day and the limitation of fat and sugar consumption [1,2]. There is extensive evidence that children are not meeting the recommendations and are instead consuming large amounts of energy-dense foods, fat, and sugar, and low amounts of F/V [1,3–5]. It seems that boys have unhealthier diets when compared with girls [5–7]. Many variables have been studied, including variables that are external and not amenable to be changed by the individual (e.g., food economy–high prices of F/V) and child-related variables that are amenable to be changed by the individual (e.g., nutritional knowledge) [8–10]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion