The Physiology & Behavior Laboratory, Tel-Hai Academic College, 9977 North Districts, Qiryat Shemona 1220800, Israel.
Psychology Department, Tel-Hai Academic College, 9977 North Districts, Qiryat Shemona 1220800, Israel.
Nutrients. 2024 Oct 3;16(19):3373. doi: 10.3390/nu16193373.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The growing interest in nutritional psychology has sparked explorations into how eating habits impact one's emotional, cognitive, and physical health. The Theory of Food (ToF) posits that childhood eating patterns shape food choices in adulthood, influenced by cognitive and associative representations formed early in life. This study explores the relationship between specific childhood eating habits-fruit and snack consumption-and implicit attitudes toward these food groups in adulthood. It also investigates whether this relationship differs by gender.
One hundred and nineteen participants completed a recall questionnaire about their childhood eating habits and an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess implicit attitudes toward food groups. The primary hypotheses were that greater fruit consumption in childhood would lead to more positive attitudes toward fruits, and higher snack consumption would result in more favourable attitudes toward snacks.
The results did not support the initial hypotheses, indicating no direct relationship between the consumption of fruits or snacks in childhood and implicit attitudes in adulthood. However, further analyses revealed a significant difference in implicit attitudes toward fruits below versus high childhood fruit consumption participation, particularly among women.
These findings highlight the complexity of the relationship between childhood eating habits and implicit food attitudes. While no direct associations were found for the overall sample, the significant differences in attitudes based on childhood fruit consumption in women suggest gender-specific patterns. These results emphasize the need for further research to unravel the intricate connections between early eating behaviours and later food attitudes.
背景/目的：营养心理学的日益兴起引发了人们对于饮食习惯如何影响情感、认知和身体健康的探索。食物理论（ToF）认为，童年时期的饮食习惯会影响成年后的食物选择，而这些选择受到认知和联想代表的影响，这些代表在生命早期形成。本研究探讨了特定的童年饮食习惯——水果和零食的消费——与成年后对这些食物群体的内隐态度之间的关系。它还调查了这种关系是否因性别而异。
119 名参与者完成了一份关于他们童年饮食习惯的回忆问卷和一项内隐联想测试（IAT），以评估对食物群体的内隐态度。主要假设是，童年时期水果消费越多，对水果的态度就越积极，零食消费越高，对零食的态度就越积极。
结果不支持最初的假设，表明童年时期水果或零食的消费与成年时期的内隐态度之间没有直接关系。然而，进一步的分析表明，在童年时期水果消费参与度较低与较高的参与者之间，对水果的内隐态度存在显著差异，尤其是女性。
这些发现强调了童年饮食习惯和内隐食物态度之间关系的复杂性。虽然对于整个样本没有发现直接关联，但女性根据童年水果消费的态度存在显著差异，表明存在性别特异性模式。这些结果强调需要进一步研究，以揭示早期饮食行为与后期食物态度之间错综复杂的联系。
