Wadhera Devina, Capaldi Phillips Elizabeth D, Wilkie Lynn M, Boggess May M
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, 950 S. McAllister Ave., Tempe, AZ 85287-1104.
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, 950 S. McAllister Ave., Tempe, AZ 85287-1104.
Appetite. 2015 Jun;89:22-32. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2015.01.011. Epub 2015 Jan 20.
Food preferences and habits learned at a young age can influence adulthood dietary patterns and weight, but the mechanism remains to be elucidated. We investigated the effect of perceived recollections of early food experiences on current liking for those foods by 670 college students. We showed that the perceived recollection of frequent consumption of foods in childhood was significantly related to current liking for the vast majority of the foods, including nutritious foods such as vegetables. Similarly, parental encouragement and modeling was positively related with current liking, even for foods that were disliked in childhood. Additionally, perceived recollections of parental restriction or forced consumption were significantly negatively related with current liking. Lastly, we demonstrated that perceived recollections by college students of childhood eating practices were in moderate agreement with those of their parents, lending credibility to the retrospective survey methodology in determining long-term effects of exposure on current food habits. These findings show that the perceived recalled frequency of consumption of foods is one determinant of the food preferences of adults, demonstrating a long-term effect of frequency of exposure, a finding consistent with experimentally controlled short-term studies. Frequent exposure to foods in childhood could be a simple and effective way for parents and caregivers to instill healthy eating habits in children.
幼年时期习得的食物偏好和习惯会影响成年后的饮食习惯和体重，但其中的机制仍有待阐明。我们调查了670名大学生对早期食物体验的感知回忆对当前对这些食物喜爱程度的影响。我们发现，对童年时期频繁食用某些食物的感知回忆与当前对绝大多数食物（包括蔬菜等营养丰富的食物）的喜爱程度显著相关。同样，父母的鼓励和示范行为与当前的喜爱程度呈正相关，即使是对童年时不喜欢的食物也是如此。此外，对父母限制或强迫进食的感知回忆与当前的喜爱程度显著负相关。最后，我们证明大学生对童年饮食行为的感知回忆与他们父母的回忆有适度的一致性，这为回顾性调查方法在确定早期接触对当前饮食习惯的长期影响方面提供了可信度。这些发现表明，对食物食用频率的感知回忆是成年人食物偏好的一个决定因素，显示了接触频率的长期影响，这一发现与实验控制的短期研究结果一致。童年时期频繁接触食物可能是父母和照顾者向儿童灌输健康饮食习惯的一种简单而有效的方式。
