title: Choice of organic foods is related to perceived consequences for human health and to environmentally friendly behaviour.
abstract: We designed a questionnaire concerned with attitudes and behaviour towards organic foods, environmentally friendly behaviour (EFB), and perceived consequences of organic food choice in terms of human health, the environment and animal welfare. It was mailed in 1998 to a random nation-wide sample of 2000 Swedish citizens, ages 18-65 years, and 1154 (58%) responded. Self-reported purchase of organic foods was most strongly related to perceived benefit for human health. Performance of EFBs such as refraining from car driving was also a good predictor of purchase frequency. The results indicate that egoistic motives are better predictors of the purchase of organic foods than are altruistic motives.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Section of Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala Science Park, SE-751 83, Uppsala, Sweden. maria.magnusson@pubcare.uu.se
authors.forename: Maria K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Magnusson
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arvola
authors.forename: Ulla Kaisa Koivisto
authors.initials: UK
authors.lastname: Hursti
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aberg
authors.forename: Per-Olow
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Sjödén
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001290:Attitude; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D003625:Data Collection; D003657:Decision Making; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D058870:Food, Organic; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011634:Public Health