Influencers of children's vegetable liking-A look from a social and cultural perspective

This study examined how similar vegetable liking by children is to their peers', siblings', and mothers'. Three hundred and eighty-four children (ages 5-12) and their mothers, from three countries-Chile, China, and the United States, tasted and rated 14 different vegetables for liking. To evaluate how children's vegetable liking varies with their social environment, we developed the degree of liking difference index, which is the sum of absolute differences between the likings of the child with the likings of a second person. Results suggest that country, child's age, and sensory modalities (appearance, aroma, taste and texture) are important factors that influence how much a child's vegetable liking resembles their mothers', peers', and siblings'. Children's vegetable liking resemblance with their family and peers was greatest in China, followed by the United States, and finally Chile. Children's vegetable liking was most similar to that of their siblings, followed by mothers, and finally peers, with similarity to all three groups tending to increase as children's ages increased. Practical applications It is a key to understand how children's social environments influence their vegetable liking in order to develop successful strategies to increase vegetable consumption in childhood. This study analyzes the similarity of children vegetable liking with their mothers, siblings and peers. The results of this study suggest that future behavioral/intervention research should focus on using family to encourage children to eat vegetables.