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Food sharing with friends and acquaintances: A study in preschool boys and girls
Hallers-Haalboom,Liesbeth Vermande,M. Leeuwen,Edwin J. C. van Sterck,Liesbeth
Hallers-Haalboom,Liesbeth
Vermande,M.
Leeuwen,Edwin J. C. van
Sterck,Liesbeth
Abstract
Introduction The current study examined whether preschoolers in a (semi-)natural situation shared more food with friends or acquaintances, and whether this was different between boys and girls, older and younger children, and for preferred and non- preferred food. In order to do so, we replicated and extended the classical work of Birch and Billman in a Dutch sample. Methods Participants included 91 children aged between 3 to 6 years (52.7% boys, 93.4% Western European) from a middle- to upper-middle-class neighborhood in the Netherlands. Results The results revealed that children shared more non-preferred than preferred food with others. Girls gave more non-preferred food to acquaintances than to friends, whereas boys gave more to friends than to acquaintances. No effect of relationship was found for preferred food. Older children shared more food than younger children. Compared to acquaintances, friends made more active attempts to get food. Moreover, children who were not shared with were just as likely to share food as children who were shared with. Discussion Overall, only a small degree of agreement with the original study was found: Some significant findings could not be replicated, and some unconfirmed hypotheses of the original study were supported. The results underscore both the need for replications and studying the effect of social-contextual factors in natural settings.
Description
This work was funded by the Dutch Research Council, grant number 401.18.047 awarded to ES and MV. EvL was funded by the European Union under ERC Starting Grant no. 101042961 – CULT_ ORIGINS.
Date
2023
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Publisher
Research Projects
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Keywords
age, food preference, previous experience, relationship, sex, sharing behavior
Citation
Hallers-Haalboom, L, Vermande, M, Leeuwen, E J C V & Sterck, L 2023, 'Food sharing with friends and acquaintances : A study in preschool boys and girls', Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 14, 1130632. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1130632