title: Factors influencing the frequency of children's consumption of soft drinks.
abstract: Among other focus areas, interventions designed to improve children's diets need to address key factors contributing to children's consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages. The present study employed structural equation modelling to investigate the relationship between a broad range of predictor variables and the frequency with which Australian children consume soft drinks. In total, 1302 parents of children aged 8 to 14 years responded to an online survey about their children's food consumption behaviours. Soft drink consumption frequency was primarily influenced by parents' attitudes to soft drinks, children's pestering behaviours, and perceived social norms relating to children's consumption of these products. Importantly, pestering and social norms had significant direct effects on consumption frequency in addition to indirect effects via their impact on parents' attitudes to soft drink.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Kent St, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia. Electronic address: simone.pettigrew@curtin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pettigrew
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University, Kent St, Bentley, Western Australia 6102, Australia.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jongenelis
authors.affiliation: Cancer Council NSW, 153 Dowling Street, Woolloomooloo, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Kathy
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chapman
authors.affiliation: South Australian Health & Medical Research Institute, PO Box 11060, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia; University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D001315:Australia; D002253:Carbonated Beverages; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D004032:Diet; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D010290:Parents; D066262:Social Norms; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013549:Sweetening Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage
chemical_list: D019422:Dietary Sucrose; D013549:Sweetening Agents
keywords: Behavioural determinants; Children; Soft drinks; Structural equation modelling