title: Preschool children's acceptance of a novel vegetable following exposure to messages in a storybook.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether children's books affect attitudes and behaviors pertaining to an unfamiliar vegetable.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nine Head Start classes were randomly assigned to a positive, negative, or control group. Data were collected through individual interviews on a pretest day and two book-reading (posttest) days.
  
  
  METHODS
  118 children, ages 3 to 5.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children's book with prominent positive or negative messages about kohlrabi.
  
  
  METHODS
  Children's familiarity with kohlrabi, willingness to taste it, and attitudes toward kohlrabi and vegetables in general.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chi-square and logistic regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were significantly more kohlrabi tasters in the positive-message group than in the control group during the second posttest (P <.05). Primary factors in willingness to taste kohlrabi during the second posttest were being exposed to the positive-message treatment (P =.0398) and reporting in the previous interview that they would taste kohlrabi again (P =.0026).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Further study is needed to verify these findings and to determine whether the results generalize to other foods and/or other children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nitzke
mesh_terms: D001878:Books, Illustrated; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D014675:Vegetables