title: From meatless Mondays to meatless Sundays: motivations for meat reduction among vegetarians and semi-vegetarians who mildly or significantly reduce their meat intake.
abstract: This study explores vegetarians' and semi-vegetarians' motives for reducing their meat intake. Participants are categorized as vegetarians (remove all meat from their diet); semi-vegetarians (significantly reduce meat intake: at least three days a week); or light semi-vegetarians (mildly reduce meat intake: once or twice a week). Most differences appear between vegetarians and both groups of semi-vegetarians. Animal-rights and ecological concerns, together with taste preferences, predict vegetarianism, while an increase in health motives increases the odds of being semi-vegetarian. Even within each group, subgroups with different motives appear, and it is recommended that future researchers pay more attention to these differences.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Communication Studies , University of Antwerp , Antwerp , Belgium.
authors.forename: Charlotte J S
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: De Backer
authors.forename: Liselot
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hudders
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000827:Animal Welfare; D001294:Attitude to Health; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D014676:Diet, Vegetarian; D004777:Environment; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006262:Health; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D009042:Motivation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: meat reduction; public health campaigns; semi-vegetarianism; vegetarianism