Department of Marketing, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia.
Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.
Appetite. 2022 Sep 1;176:106094. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106094. Epub 2022 May 26.
This cross-sectional study investigates the implicit and explicit food attitudes of 1,412 Croatian children (5-9 years old) and extends our knowledge regarding how those attitudes relate to food behavior, while accounting for the potential influence of age and environmental variables such as watching television and poverty. While our findings corroborate previous work to show that children's explicit attitudes tend to be more positive toward unhealthy than healthy foods, we also find that implicit attitudes are actually more positive toward healthy than unhealthy foods. Both implicit and explicit attitudes toward healthy foods were more positive at older ages. More positive attitudes were associated with (a) a stronger belief that healthy foods "make me strong" and (b) greater consumption of healthy foods. Watching television was associated with more favorable attitudes toward unhealthy foods. Our study demonstrates how accounting for both implicit and explicit attitudes across different age groups aids understanding of children's food-related beliefs and behaviors. These insights can help health policy makers and parents instill positive attitudes toward healthy food among children early on and increase their consumption of healthy foods during childhood.
这项横断面研究调查了 1412 名克罗地亚儿童（5-9 岁）的内隐和外显食物态度，并扩展了我们对这些态度与食物行为之间关系的认识，同时考虑到年龄和环境变量（如看电视和贫困）的潜在影响。虽然我们的研究结果证实了之前的研究工作，表明儿童的外显态度往往对不健康的食物比对健康的食物更为积极，但我们也发现内隐态度实际上对健康食物比对不健康食物更为积极。对于健康食物的内隐和外显态度都随着年龄的增长而变得更加积极。更积极的态度与（a）更坚信健康食品“使我强壮”和（b）更多地食用健康食品有关。看电视与对不健康食品的更有利态度有关。我们的研究表明，在不同年龄组中同时考虑内隐和外显态度如何有助于理解儿童与食物相关的信念和行为。这些见解可以帮助卫生政策制定者和家长在儿童早期培养他们对健康食品的积极态度，并增加他们在儿童时期对健康食品的消费。
