Examining associative conditioning with a positive peer context as a strategy to increase children's vegetable acceptance

Summary Background Children's vegetable acceptance increases following repeated exposure and associative conditioning pairing a target vegetable with a well‐liked food. Yet traditional pairings may increase energy intake when well‐liked foods are calorie‐rich. Objectives To examine whether pairing a non‐food stimulus with target vegetables increases children's vegetable acceptance and whether effects exceed those of repeated exposure. Methods Twenty‐three 6‐to‐8‐year‐old children participated in twice‐weekly sessions across 6 weeks of a summer camp serving children from low‐income families. First‐ and second‐grade camp classrooms were randomly assigned to associative conditioning and repeated exposure groups, respectively. Liking and preference were assessed for seven vegetables at pre/post‐test. For each child, two non‐preferred vegetables were randomly assigned as the target or control. During exposures, associative conditioning group children experienced a positive peer context (involving group games) paired with tasting their target vegetable. The repeated exposure group received only taste exposures; target vegetable liking was assessed. Results Preferences for target vegetables increased from pre‐ (Median = 6.00) to post‐test (Median = 3.00) overall ( P = .007), but did not differ by group ( P = .59). Group, time and interaction effects on vegetable liking were non‐significant overall ( P  ≥ .29), with some evidence of group differences when examining select time points. Conclusions Findings can inform future research aiming to increase vegetable preferences in community settings.