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Many college students desire food‐related rewards for short‐term goals to improve diet and physical activity (811.27)
Author(s) -
Cope Hannah,
Wong Siew Sun
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.28.1_supplement.811.27
Subject(s) - set (abstract data type) , psychology , healthy eating , goal setting , term (time) , entertainment , physical activity , physical fitness , healthy food , gerontology , medical education , applied psychology , social psychology , medicine , physical therapy , food science , computer science , political science , chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , law , programming language
Objective: To assess the desired rewards of college students for short‐term goals to improve diet or physical activity (PA). Methods: College students (n=286) enrolled in a required 10‐week health course at Oregon State University volunteered to participate in the Better Eating Starts Today (B.E.S.T) Project in Corvallis, Oregon. Students completed a required assignment that focused on behavioral changes related to healthier eating or increasing PA. Students set three goals with the following format: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely (S.M.A.R.T). Rewards were divided into those associated with fitness or dietary goals then further divided into 1 of 7 subcategories. Results: Among 858 rewards, 810 were used in this analysis; 48 were excluded because the goal was non‐dietary/PA related or missing data. Sixty‐four percent of the rewards were associated with fitness goals, 36% with dietary goals. Food‐related rewards were most frequent in fitness and dietary goals, 33% and 54%, respectively. Entertainment‐related rewards followed with 19% for fitness goals and 23% for dietary goals. Conclusion: Regardless of short‐term goal, the most desired reward is food‐related. Therefore, educators may need to pay more attention to teach college students to incentivize themselves for health behavior change in creative yet sensible and balanced ways. Grant Funding Source : PacificSource Healthcare