Food Choice 37parents than when they were not. Olivera et al. (1992) reported a correlation
between mothers’ and children’s food intakes for most nutrients in preschool
children, and suggested targeting parents to try to improve children’s diets.
Likewise, Contento et al. (1993) found a relationship between mothers’
health motivation and the quality of children’s diets. Parental behavior and
attitudes are therefore central to the process of social learning, with research
highlighting a positive association between parents’ and children’s diets.
There is, however, some evidence that mothers and children are not always
in line with each other. For example, Wardle (1995) reported that mothers
rated health as more important for their children than for themselves.
Alderson and Ogden (1999) similarly reported that whereas mothers were
more motivated by calories, cost, time, and availability for themselves, they
rated nutrition and long-term health as more important for their children.
In addition, mothers may also differentiate between themselves and their
children in their choices of food. For example, Alderson and Ogden (1999)
indicated that mothers fed their children more of the less healthy dairy pro-
ducts, breads, cereals, and potatoes, and fewer of the healthy equivalents
to these foods, than they ate themselves. Furthermore, this differentiation
was greater in dieting mothers, suggesting that mothers who restrain their
own food intake may feed their children more of the foods that they are
denying themselves. A relationship between maternal dieting and food choice
is also supported by a study of 197 families with prepubescent girls by
Birch and Fisher (2000). This study concluded that the best predictors of
the daughter’s eating behavior were the mother’s level of dietary restraint
and her perceptions of the risk of her daughter becoming overweight. In sum,
parental behaviors and attitudes may influence those of their children through
the mechanisms of social learning. This association, however, may not always
be straightforward, with parents differentiating between themselves and their
children in terms of both food-related motivations and food choice.
The media
Radnitz et al. (2009) analyzed the nutritional content of food on television
programs aimed at children under 5 and showed that unhealthy foods were
given almost twice as much airtime and were shown as valued significantly
more than healthy foods. The role of social learning is also shown by the
impact of television and food advertising. For example, after Eyton’s The
F Plan Diet, which recommended a high-fiber diet, was launched with a
great deal of media attention in 1982, sales of bran-based cereals rose by
30 percent, whole-wheat bread sales rose by 10 percent, whole-wheat pasta