Exploring the influence of role modeling on food consumption among the youth in Uganda

doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-3572316/v1

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Exploring the influence of role modeling on food consumption among the youth in Uganda

https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3572316/v1

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Background

Certain diseases are associated with individual eating habits. Eating habits of the youth are at times copied from other people and replicated throughout a lifetime. Despite this, the influence of role modeling on food consumption among the youth seems to have received scant attention in the extant literature. Previous studies appear to largely focus on children and adolescent populations within Europe and the United States of America. This study seeks to fill this gap by exploring the influence role modeling has on food consumption among the youth in Uganda.

Methods

Utilizing an exploratory qualitative methodology, we conducted nine in-depth interviews of University students aged between 20–29 years in central Uganda. Discussions covered a range of issues related to how role modeling influenced the youths’ food consumption.

Results

Using thematic content analysis found that role models influence the youth’s food consumption in three ways; live demonstration, abstract shows, and instructional guidance. This means an individual may influence a youth’s eating habits through physically eating in the same social setting, through digital screen platforms, and through advice that may also include written literature.

Conclusion

Parents should, thus, repeatedly eat healthy foods as a way of training their child’s nutrition habits. In addition, health professionals designing screen media campaigns for the youth should consider using healthy foods in their image-related content. Written literature with healthy eating messages should also be prepared to target the youth.

Health Policy

Role modeling

Uganda

Health

food Consumption

qualitative study

Unhealthy eating habits are associated with diseases (Popkin et al., 2021) like cancer, hypertension, stroke and diabetes (Yip et al., 2019). Cardiovascular diseases cause about 17.9 annual global deaths, of which 77% are in low and middle-income countries (WHO, 2022). The WHO (2022) reports that 17 million Non Communicable Disease deaths occur before the age of 70 with low and middle-income countries accounting for 86%. These deaths are generally driven by unhealthy eating habits (WHO, 2022). Eating habits may be learnt from other individuals.

People learn a lot from other people around them (Scaglioni et al., 2018). According to the Social Cognitive Theory asserts that new manners are attained in a social context through observing and emulating others (Bandura, 1971). In other words, individuals copy behaviors of people around them and replicate them either immediately or at a later stage of life. This learnt behavior, for the youth, is largely replicated through to their adulthood (Stok et al., 2018).

Role Modeling and Food Consumption

Most of individual food consumption is a result of imitating another person’s food consumption. For instance, the more food one’s eating companion eats, the more of that food an individual eats and vice versa (Suwalska and Bogdański, 2021). Scaglioni et al. (2018), in support, states that children will eat a wide food variety on seeing their parents eat a wide food variety as well. Gilmour et al. (2020) further adds that even in the absence of parents, children reported to consume what their parents approved of. However, Rauber et al., (2022) reported that no association existed between UK adolescents’ eating of snack foods and their friends eating patterns. Smith et al., (2019) reported food related TV advertisements as responsible for the increase in the consumption of high dense energy foods. Kergoat et al., (2020) findings are also in agreement that the more commercial messages a person receives the more sweets they consume. Folkvord et al. (2020) also reported that when children watched cooking shows with healthy foods they subsequently increased their intake of healthy foods than when they watched cooking shows with unhealthy foods. Sogari et al. (2018) study reported that college students eat more fruit and vegetables when their parents encourage them and avoided unhealthy foods when the parents instructed them. This is the same when parents encourage their adolescent children (Bastami et al., 2019). However, Gilmour et al., (2020) reported that teenagers do not yield to pressure from fellow peers of consumption of certain foods.

Despite several empirical studies on the relationship between role modeling and food consumption behavior few seem to have focused on exploring this relationship among the youth (Rounsefell et al., 2020). The available studies seem to mainly focus on the children (Vepsäläinen et al., 2018), adolescents (Gilmour et al., 2020) and within Europe (Vepsäläinen et al., 2018) and the United States of America (Rounsefell et al., 2020) with seemingly less studies on the African Continent. In addition, numerous studies seem to mainly employ quantitative approaches to solving these problems (Suwalska and Bogdański, 2021). To fill this gap, this study used a qualitative approach to gain a deeper understanding of how role modeling influences food consumption among the youth in Uganda.

Sample size determination and selection

The study participants were students aged between 20 years to 29 years at Makerere and Kyambogo universities located in Uganda. We used purposive sampling to target participants that agreed to take part in the study. Purposive sampling was considered appropriate as it enabled researchers to choose participants who are knowledgeable and informative (Creswell, 2014). We determined the sample size using the saturation point (Sim et al., 2018), where interviewing of additional key informants only resulted into the same information.

Data collection

We collected data using an interview guide. The interviews involved face-to-face encounters with key informants so as to get their real perceptions about food consumption. We based the questioning on pre-determined themes (study variables) in a logical and systematic way coupled with probing in order to elicit more detailed views.

Data analysis

We analyzed transcripts from the interviews following the recommendations of Gioia et al., (2013). This involved obtaining emerging themes using content analysis technique. These emerging themes were modeled into NVIVO version 11.4.0 (2015; QSR International Pty, Ltd) to come up with a reality hierarchical model that explains role model influence on food consumption behavior. This followed suggestions of Miles and Huberman, (1994).

Reliability and Validity

To enhance rigor in the qualitative research, first, we conducted the interviews at the university campuses and they lasted between 45 and 60 minutes. This enabled the researchers to spend more time with the participants and get first-hand information (Creswell, 2014). We confirmed the information provided through additional discussions (Simon and Goes, 2018). This entailed the use of probing question to help tap into the participants’ deeper understandings. Lastly, the researchers took extensive notes, audio recorded interviews and continuously sought for active participation to ensure that the exact information was captured (Creswell, 2014).

Ethical considerations

The lead researcher sought for an introductory letter from the university that was presented to participants on the first visit. The participants were enlightened and reminded about the intention of the study, which was for purely academic reasons (Saunders et al., 2016). We sought for their verbal consent and further informed them that participation was not mandatory and this was done on all subsequent interviews. We further sought for permission to record the interviews. In addition, both the researcher and participants agreed to disguise any identification details (The Data Protection and Privacy Act, 2019).

Below we present the initial coding themes namely; food consumption and modeling food-consumption; the emergent themes and the hierarchical reality model.

Food consumption

Respondents were asked what they understood by food consumption. Findings revealed that they perceived food consumption as ‘frequency of eating food’. They believe it involves ‘eating a particular food kind’, ‘eating at a certain mealtime’, and having a quality meal (See Fig. 1).

The following narratives support the radial diagram above:

… It is related with how much we eat, when we eat it and what frequency do you eat it. For example, if … my lifestyle has put me in a place where by every day I have to have three (3) meals, I have to have breakfast, I have to have lunch, I have to have supper. Most of the times I make sure that I have my breakfast and lunch in time. For supper, sometimes I am late, sometimes I am early, but I have to have those 3 meals.

… I do not eat Meats, fried things, those things that have a lot of fats, and chips…. but you can eat those foods occasionally, when you decide.

Modeling food consumption

Respondents were asked to describe a time when another person’s food consumption influenced their own food intake. Findings revealed three general ways this happened namely; Live demonstration, abstract shows and instructional guidance (see Fig. 2). One respondent stated

The people we live with [and] the society we interact with shape us in terms of the foods [we] consume.

The influence through Live demonstrations

This involved physically seeing another person’s eating behavior, copying that behavior and setting out to eat similar food. This apparently happened when the youth was in the same social setting as the person whose eating behavior they admired as evident below

If I am to host these friends of mine it means that I will also not be eating ‘Kalo’ (millet paste).

When I am with my girlfriend, she always orders for any food for as long as it is not fish. This is because I do not eat fish and she feels happy sharing and eating the same food that I eat.

Even at school, if you are going to eat and you have a friend with you, what she eats is what you eat.

Eating the same food as the other person was eating appeared to be done so as to fit into society

When you enter a restaurant together with your ‘guys’, you may wish to order for Cassava or Potatoes but fear to be called a backward and inferior person to your friends. You then ‘go’ for chips and chicken that show that you are really a ‘campuser’. This shows that you fit in the society. You end up eating foods that you did not plan for in the first place.

The act of eating what the other party eats seemed to happen after repeated exposure to the role model’s eating behavior:

Every morning, my roommate used to buy two bananas and would give me one banana to eat. I think before I knew I started adding bananas on my menu every early morning.

There is this friend of mine, I work with, whose diet I admire. Everyday she eats two bananas in the morning and drinks a flask of hot water. Not tea but just hot water. Then during the day, she takes two liters of water. I have copied from her the part of the water routine. However much I don’t do it like how she does but at least I make sure. I am progressing because now at least I can take one and a half [liters of water] in a day.

The influence, perhaps, was reciprocal where one individual swayed the other party and vice versa.

“If it is lunchtime and you go to a canteen with a friend and this friend asks for rice, vegetables and cowpeas, you also ask for the same. The then next time it is you to choose. So you take turns. If you ask for chips and chicken she also asks for the same.”

Results showed that replicating the eating behaviour appears to have happened even when the role model had left the respondent physical presence.

It is hard for my siblings and I to spend two days without eating foods with a sour taste. We copied this from our father who believed that sweet foods are not good for our health. I always try to eat sour greens, ‘Omururuza’ and other sour foods to reduce the chances of acquiring Malaria.

The influence through Abstract Shows

While respondents may have copied their eating behaviours from seeing a person physically eating, this influence may also have been experienced from following these role models eating habits on electronic screen platforms

There were days when I wanted to lose weight. I had someone I looked up to and I saw her from a television screen… she did physiques [physical exercises], she ate particular food, she ate fruits. I also tried to be like her.

This influence could be through television advertisements

You know [that] Café Javas [and] KFC happen to advertise stuff like chicken [through] online [platforms]. So, some people may be influenced like to taste that food because of the adverts that they [Café Javas and KFC] put.

The influence from role models appeared to be enhanced from the respondent’s lifestyle that involved playing certain sports and using particular screen media.

With me, since I am a sportsman, specifically footballer, I admire Christiano Ronaldo, that star. He has been on the scene for quite a long time. So I always follow him on every social platform. I always follow his eating schedule; his diet and I would also want to eat what exactly he is eating so that I may last longer like him. I really look up to him.

Respondents were asked about the role cooking shows or movies played in their own eating behaviours. Some level of influence was evident:

There are times when you watch cooking shows and they present nice things and you are like now let me also try out this at home. So you keep writing down the recipes and also try it at home once in a while.

However, certain respondents reported their eating behaviors not having been influenced by cooking shows, television personalities, and movies.

I love cooking shows a lot but they have not influenced what I eat. I love the shows but I don’t know why they do not influence me.

Actually no person on TV, cooking shows, movies have influenced my eating behavior because I rarely watch movies and actually for me the movies I watch are the Nigerian movies, which rarely have those things of foods and what and then these series of the Indians. I have never seen Nigerian movies with those parts of eating. I have also not watched cooking shows before.

The influence through Instructional Guidance

On top of live demonstration and abstract shows, youths also appeared to learn their eating habits from verbal advice that friends, parents and experts availed.

Actually parents decide a lot about what we are supposed to eat because they can decide that this food is not good for your body and they just tell you that you are not going to eat this food. So in the end you do not eat the food.

Parental coaching may stem from the father’s advice:

From where I come, we do not like eating ‘Amawolu’ (left-over food), that is to say food that has stayed throughout the night. Our dad, always, used to tell us cold food is not always good to eat. Even when we used to hear stories from our schoolmates saying ah ‘Egolu mu kyalo’ (left-over food in the village) is nice; we still did not eat it.

When we were young, … our dad used to force us to eat eggplants, ‘doodo’, and ‘Jobyo’ (leafy greens) in our meals. They were sour and bitter but we used to eat them. I take him as someone that influenced me to eat that kind of food.

Respondents also reported that they received suggestions from siblings regarding the right food to eat:

My brother narrated to me how he learnt from someone that if he eats hot Matooke (bananas), he would develop a mouth odour. So we took that as true. So, whenever we prepared Matooke for breakfast, we could wait for it to cool down and then take it with tea but never to take it as a main meal.

Some of the eating behaviours that the youths exhibited resulted from what friends advised regarding what food to eat.

At times when I sleep at her hostel, we can decide like tomorrow we eat this and this and the following day we end up eating that.

Respondents specifically cited how group pressure was responsible for their intake of unhealthy foods:

I will cite a line like this you know ‘peer pressure can put us under junk pressure’. You know sometimes I can plan to eat something healthy [and] then a friend of mine tells me, ‘bro, that is cheap man, let’s go eat something big’. So I start eating that junk food because of a friend has told me. Sometimes, when we are operating in groups there is a way [that] our independence is always taken, … we happen to be kneeling or bending a knee for everything that our friend says because we want to please our friends.

On top of family and friend advice is professional guidance. Some of the eating behaviours that the youth exhibited appeared to have resulted from what experts advised them to eat.

And they have always advised us to find out what kinds of foods we need for our bodies especially for your blood type.

On a daily basis, we should have some proteins; one should eat a fruit. The nutritionists talk about 7 fruits per day, at least 5 fruits and 2 greens. Five different types of fruits, At least 5 fruits with different colours not like a fruit with one colour. The red, the yellow, the green, you can talk of the watermelon, the banana. You can talk of the Avocado. May be the berries. I have tried this advice in my diet.

Certain influence on what the youth ate appeared to result from what they read about regarding particular societies

“I resonate more with Rastafarians because I have read so much about them and even their lifestyle. This has affected what I eat. I plan and eat different things that are not like connected to beef, chicken, and foods like that. I find myself eating bread. If I am to eat food, I will eat like say rice and vegetables.

On a contrary, some respondents seemed not to possess any memory of a person or friend that may have influenced their food consumption:

I do not really have anybody in my life that has influenced my consumption behavior. It is my consumption behavior. Myself. Not a relative. Not a friend

Other respondents further appear to have reported that friends did not have any influence regarding what they eat

… When I have conversations with my friends, they tell me beef is very good but I can’t, I just don’t eat it.

The findings indicated that role models influence on the youth’s eating behaviors happened; when they were physically in the same social context, after repeated exposure, to be reciprocal in nature and continued long after the role model left. The youth appeared to copy eating behaviors of their role models so as to fit into the society. This supports Suwalska and Bogdański (2021) findings that indicated that social modeling happened in the same physical environment as the eating companion and each eating partner seemed to influence the quantity of food the other partner ate. This influence persisted long after the eating partner had gone. This eating behavior appears to have resulted from the need to fit into a social norm, for example, a student ordered for the same food as the eating companions due to the fear of being labeled backward.

Additionally, individuals, including sports personalities and celebrities, on electronic screen platforms influenced student’s eating behaviors. The influence appeared through television advertisements, social media platforms, and cooking shows. This is in accordance with Smith et al., (2019) findings that food related advertisements were partly responsible for the increase in unhealthy food consumption. They also revealed that sports endorser’s led to children’s consumption of more food. This could be as a result of student’s desire to achieve the same status as the sport personality. A student who followed the eating plan of a football star with a hope of emulating the star’s skills exhibited this influence. Our findings also support Folkvord et al. (2020) who reported that the more children watched cooking shows the more they ate the foods they saw on the those programs.

Similarly, encouragement from parents, siblings, friends and written literature appeared to influence the youth’s eating behaviors. This finding supports Suwalska and Bogdański (2021), who reported that social norms written down in messages perhaps inspire eating behaviors. This is demonstrated by a student who confessed to eating only plants as a result of being influenced by Rastafarians that he read about. They also lend support to Bastami et al. (2019) whose findings show that when parents encourage their children to eat a certain food, the children will ultimately consume that food.

Limitations and future research

This research was exploratory in nature and focused on a small sample of University students in Uganda. Findings are, therefore, not generalizable in the wider national or international context and hence should be treated with caution. This limitation, however, provides an opportunity for further research. This includes replicating the study in other contexts – other Ugandan regions, different countries – and using a larger sample size to ascertain whether we might produce similar results regarding role model influences towards food consumption.

The data used are recent, but cross-sectional in nature, and future research could look to implement a longitudinal study, allowing for greater understanding of how the youths’ eating behaviors may be influenced and altered over time, and hence produce richer understandings. The inclusion of other demographic and psychographic characteristics may be beneficial to help further explain eating behaviors of the youth.

These findings provide evidence of key role modeling influences on the youths’ food consumption. Given little research appears to have been undertaken in this area, this study contributes to understanding of the youth population’s perception of role modeling towards their food consumption. One influence was found to be the physical demonstration of eating from parents, siblings, and friends. This influence happened to result from consistent sight of the model. The youth copied these eating behaviors to fit in society. It should also be noted that the role model influence may be reciprocal and may continue even long after the role model left. The other influence on food consumption appeared to be from abstract shows that included the youth following role models that they see on screen gadgets through social media platforms as well as television cooking shows. These findings support existing literature (Folkvord et al., 2020; Smith et al., 2019). These finding conform with Bandura (1977)’s Social Cognitive Theory. The other finding appears to indicate that instructional guidance influences the youths’ food consumption. This appears to be manifested through parental coaching, sibling suggestions, friends’ advice, professional guidance and interestingly written literature. This finding conforms to extant literature (Bastami et al., 2019; Suwalska and Bogdański, 2021).

In line with (Rounsefell et al., 2020) study recommendations of young adults’ food choices, Screen Media is considered an essential platform for health experts to reach, engage and encourage the youth towards healthy eating behaviors. This research indicates that Screen Media engagement and exposure to advertisements and cooking shows influences the youths’ food choices especially those with access to Screen Media content. The other recommendation is that parents may adopt eating healthy foods physically in front of their children on a repeated basis, as this behavior seems to affect these children even through young adulthood. Parents and experts could even go further to encourage their youth children to eat around friends with healthy eating habits since the influence each other in a reciprocal way. Lastly, universities and health experts should consider writing down health consumption messages in literature perhaps through novels, social media platforms to target those youth with a reading culture that influences appears to influence their eating behaviors and lifestyle.

Acknowledgement

Authors wish to acknowledge the Community of Practice and the academic research supervisors of Makerere University Business from whom the researcher learnt and continues to learn a lot.

Funding

The authors received financial assistance from Makerere University Business School, Kampala, Uganda in the course of data collection and analysis of the study.

Conflicts of interest

Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

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Exploring the influence of role modeling on food consumption among the youth in Uganda

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Abstract

Background

Methods

Results

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Introduction

Materials and Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusions

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References

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