Term of Award

Spring 1986

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Document Type and Release Option

Thesis (restricted to Georgia Southern)

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Gary McClure

Committee Member 1

Philip W. Hurst

Committee Member 2

Richard L. Rogers

Abstract

The effects of child versus adult television models presenting pro-nutritional messages via television advertisements were examined in three groups of first-grade children. Group 1 consisted of children viewing child television models with nutritional messages; Group 2 viewed adult television models with nutritional messages; and. Group 3 served as a control group and viewed both child and adults presenting information on animals. Behavioral food preferences were determined by children's food selections during pre- and post-treatment snacktime periods. Attitudinal food preferences and nutrition knowledge were measured by pre- and post-treatment questionnaires. Results indicated that child and adult model groups did not differ significantly from pre- to post-treatment on the Behavior and Nutrition Knowledge measures. Controls chose significantly less nutritional foods and demonstrated less nutrition knowledge during post-treatment conditions as compared to pre-treatment. The child model group held significantly better attitudes toward nutritional foods during posttreatment with the adult model and control groups showing no differences during post-treatment. The child and The child model group held significantly better attitudes toward nutritional foods during post-treatment with the adult model and control groups showing no differences during post-treatment. The child and adult model groups chose significantly more nutritious foods during post-treatment than did the controls; however, there were no significant differences between the child model and the adult model groups during post-treatment. These results were consistent for the behavior, attitude, and knowledge measures. The finding that both adult and child television models can be effective in conveying nutrition information establishes television as a valuable educational technique for teaching nutrition and health practices to young children.

OCLC Number

1032304756

Copyright

To obtain a full copy of this work, please visit the campus of Georgia Southern University or request a copy via your institution's Interlibrary Loan (ILL) department. Authors and copyright holders, learn how you can make your work openly accessible online.

Files over 10MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "Save as..."

Share

COinS