Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, Nutritional Knowledge and Beliefs in Mothers and Children

• Published in: Appetite 1998-10, Vol.31 (2), p.205-228
• Main Authors: GIBSON, E.L., WARDLE, J., WATTS, C.J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Diet; Eating - physiology; Feeding Behavior - physiology; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Food Preferences - physiology; Fruit; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health Behavior; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Humans; Male; Mother-Child Relations; Nutritional Sciences - education; Socioeconomic Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Vegetables; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
• ISSN: 0195-6663; 1095-8304
• DOI: 10.1006/appe.1998.0180

Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is an important health behaviour. Parental and other psychosocial influences on children's fruit and vegetable consumption are poorly understood. The contribution of a variety of psychosocial and environmental factors to consumption of fruit and vegetables by children aged 9–11 years was explored. Ninety-two mothers and children (48 girls and 44 boys) were recruited via urban primary health-care practices. Socio-economic and educational level, nutritional knowledge and health- and diet-related beliefs and attitudes were assessed in mothers and children by questionnaires and semistructured interviews. Mothers» diets were measured by a food frequency questionnaire, while children's diets were assessed by 3-day diaries (N=80). The pattern of influence of the various measures on fruit and vegetable consumption was compared with that on children's confectionery intake. The children's intakes of macronutrients were typical for the U.K. (37% fat, 50% carbohydrate and 13% protein by energy; 12 g/day fibre), while median fruit, fruit juice and vegetable intake amounted to about 2·5 servings/day. Univariate correlations and subsequent multiple regression analyses revealed quite different influences on the three food types. Independent predictors of children's fruit intake included mothers» nutritional knowledge (β=0·37), mothers» frequency of fruit consumption (β=0·30) and mothers» attitudinal conviction that increasing fruit and vegetable consumption by their children could reduce their risk of developing cancer (β=0·27; multipler2=0·37,p