For 45% of Italians, almost one in two, food consumption is a way to relate to loved ones, while for over one in five it is above all a “health issue”: we eat not only to feed ourselves, but with the goal of keeping fit through nutrition and, for this purpose, we also influence our food choices. This was revealed by a study by the EngageMinds Hub, the research center of the Catholic University, Cremona campus, directed by Professor Guendalina Graffigna. An index measuring the relationship with food, a new food involvement scale (Psychological Food Involvement Scale, or Pfis), was developed and validated on a first sample.
“The role of food in people’s lives has changed radically in recent years”, underline Graffigna and Greta Castellini, the doctor who conducted the study published in the scientific journal ‘Food Quality and Preference’. In particular, “food is not only considered a source of sustenance, but is becoming increasingly symbolic and linked to subjective values. However, there are no empirical studies aimed at exploring and deepening this symbolic value. Our index – the researchers explain – it wants to be an objective tool to qualitatively explore the personal meanings that consumers attribute to food”.
The Psychological Food Involvement Scale index is also able to understand the often unexpressed motivations behind some food choices. In the study 512 questionnaires filled in by as many people were collected and the results demonstrated the validity and reliability of the scale.
“The preliminary results with the use of this scale – explains Graffigna – showed that about 16% of the sample has a strong involvement in food. In particular, for 45% food represents a means by which to strengthen the bond affective relationship with loved ones, while for 40% it is possible to achieve a state of psycho-physical well-being thanks to nutrition”.
In fact, the study shows that people who score high on this new rating scale tend to follow a healthy diet which leads them to make healthier food choices than those who assign food a lower symbolic value. Furthermore, Pfis is able to explain some increasingly successful food trends, such as the consumption of vegetable drinks and lactose-free milk, highlighting their symbolic value. In this case it is possible to observe how social influence, and therefore the desire for social affirmation, plays a fundamental role in deciding to buy and consume lactose-free cow’s milk, demonstrating how this choice can often be characterized as a ‘fashion’, i.e. a real ‘trend’ consumption.
“The consumption of vegetable drinks – considers Graffigna – is not only determined by the need to affirm oneself socially, but also by the need to express one’s self”. “In fact, these consumer choices are made to show one’s own values and ideas on the subject of sustainability, such as respect for animals and the environment”, says Castellini.
“The research therefore shows how this new indicator of psychological involvement in food makes it possible to profile and differentiate consumers by identifying the deep-seated and emotional motivations that characterize food choices, levers on which to focus in order to generate behavioral changes that favor consumption healthy and effective communication and education campaigns”, concludes Graffigna.
A new international master’s degree course, ‘Consumer Behavior: Psychology Appliead to Food, health and Environment’, will soon start, the first for the Faculty of Psychology of the Catholic University on the Cremona campus, dedicated to training future psychologists – announces the university in a note – capable of understanding and modifying behaviors in the field of health, food behavior and pro-environmental sustainability behaviors from a One Health perspective.