Study of eating behaviour and self-control of young consumers in the light of health-conscious behaviour
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15170/MM.2021.55.02.04Keywords:
DEBQ, self-control, eating behaviour, restrained eating, emotional eating, external eatingAbstract
THE AIM OF THE PAPER
Poor nutrition can be a source of many diseases, the treatment of which is a huge economic burden for health care. The current health system focuses on the treatment of diseases, but prevention could save huge amounts of money at both social and individual levels. Health-conscious eating is, in fact, the choice of appropriate foods, and different eating behaviours often arise from a lack of awareness. Examining the health-conscious diets of young people is of paramount importance as they will be the workers and consumers of the future. In our research, we look at the level of self-control that young consumers (between 18-23) have and how this is related to their eating behaviour. Our goal is to shed light on relationships that could serve as the basis for a health campaign.
METHODOLOGY
To answer this question, we carried out questionnaire research based on Tangney-Baumeister-Boone's range of self-control and the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ). Our sample added 529 students between the age of 18 and 23. We used factor analysis in our research.
MOST IMPORTANT RESULTS
Our results show that individuals with poor self-control are more likely to eat more food as a result of eating under the influence of emotions and external influences, i.e. they eat more food as a result of increased negative or positive emotions, and if they see a food they want, they eat it, regardless of whether they are hungry, but they are not characterized by food restraint. Those with strong self-control are not affected by emotions or good food, but moderate eating is the most characteristic of them.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Our results can be useful for obesity prevention campaigns. In our opinion, it would be worthwhile to formulate prevention messages in a differentiated way, thereby targeting individuals with different eating behaviours. An important element should also be a reference to the importance of self-control in messages.
