title: Following family or friends. Social norms in adolescent healthy eating.
abstract: It is commonly believed that during adolescence children become increasingly influenced by peers at the expense of parents. To test the strength of this tendency with regards to healthy eating (fruit and vegetable intake), a survey was completed by 757 adolescent-parent dyads. Our theoretical framework builds on social cognitive theory and the focus theory of normative conduct, and data are analysed by means of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. The study reveals that when it comes to adolescents' fruit and vegetable intake, parents remain the main influencer, with what they do (descriptive norms) being more important than what they say (injunctive norms). The study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of what influences adolescent healthy eating, including the social influence of parents and friends, while also taking adolescent self-efficacy and outcome expectations into account. No previous studies have included all these factors in the same analysis. The study has a number of important implications: (1) healthy eating interventions should aim at strengthening self-efficacy and positive outcome expectations among adolescents, (2) the family context should be included when implementing healthy eating interventions and (3) parents' awareness of their influence on their children's healthy eating should be reinforced.
authors.affiliation: MAPP, Department of Business Administration, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 10, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pedersen
authors.affiliation: MAPP, Department of Business Administration, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 10, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grønhøj
authors.affiliation: MAPP, Department of Business Administration, Business and Social Sciences, Aarhus University, Bartholins Allé 10, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. Electronic address: jbt@badm.au.dk.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Thøgersen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology*; D005638:Fruit; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D010379:Peer Group; D020377:Self Efficacy; D066262:Social Norms; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014675:Vegetables
keywords: Adolescent diet; Parenting; Social cognitive theory; Social influence; Structural equation modelling