Food indicators and their relationship with 10 to 12 year-olds' subjective well-being

Abstract

This study aims to test subjective indicators designed to analyze children's predisposition towards food consumption, to assess their subjective well-being, and to explore the relationship between subjective well-being, predisposition towards food consumption and satisfaction with food. Gender differences are analyzed. It was conducted on 371 children aged 10 to 12 by means of a self-administered questionnaire. Results show that children's motivations in relation to taste and health are relevant subjective indicators of their predisposition towards food consumption. They demonstrate a high subjective well-being, measured using Cummins and Lau's adapted version of the Personal Well-Being Index-School Children (PWI-SC) (2005), overall life satisfaction (OLS) and satisfaction with various life domains (friends, family, sports, food and body). In order to analyze the relationship between the three aforementioned constructs, regression models were conducted. The interest children have in food, the importance they give to different reasons for eating, scores from the PWI-SC, OLS and satisfaction with various life domains were regressed on satisfaction with food. It was observed that OLS, health motivations, satisfaction with health from the PWI-SC and satisfaction with doing things away from home (also from the PWI-SC), contribute to explaining satisfaction with food. The results obtained suggest that the different indicators for children's predisposition towards food consumption explored here and subjective well-being are relevant determinants of satisfaction with food. They also appear to reinforce the importance of exploring food satisfaction in any study aimed at analyzing the well-being of the 10 to 12 yearold population