Preschool children's acceptance of a novel vegetable following exposure to messages in a storybook.
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.
Byrne
Elena
E
Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
Nitzke
Susan
S
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