Promoting Resilience to Food Commercials Decreases Susceptibility to Unhealthy Food Decision-Making

Obesity, Adolescent Clinical Trial

Official title:

Developmental Decision Making Study

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04905498
• Other study ID #: STUDY00003631
• Secondary ID: 8UG1OD024943-02
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: January 7, 2019
• Est. completion date: March 7, 2020

Study information

• Verified date: March 2023
• Source: University of Kansas Medical Center
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to evaluate how food commercials influence food choices in children and their parents.

Description:

The proposed research will investigate food decision-making in youth. Childhood obesity is a risk factor for health issues, thus preventing adverse effects of childhood obesity by promoting healthy eating habits and providing effective interventions are important. Television food commercials advertising calorie-dense and high in salt and sugar foods are known to contribute unhealthy food choices and obesity. Thus the proposed study will examine how the advertising intervention focusing on increasing advertising knowledge and changing affective attitudes toward commercials impacts susceptability to commercials and food decisions in youth.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 49
• Est. completion date: March 7, 2020
• Est. primary completion date: March 7, 2020
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 8 Years to 12 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Children had to be between 8-12.9 years old (including 8 year olds, NOT including 13 year olds.
• Had to be able to speak English as their primary language.
• Self-reported normal hearing and vision.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Did not speak English
• Data from children with history of neurological conditions, clinically significant psychopathology, or learning disabilities reported by parents (e.g., Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, depression) will be excluded.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Obesity, Adolescent
• Pediatric Obesity

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Commercial Advertising Literacy Training
Children were shown food commercials and in between those commercials they saw and heard statements such as "These foods won't make you happy" and "Those foods are so unhealthy."
• Control
Children were shown food commercials that were the same length as the other group but did not receive any information about whether the content was truthful.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	University of Kansas Medical Center	Kansas City	Kansas

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Kansas Medical Center	National Institutes of Health (NIH), University of Missouri, Kansas City

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (1)

Ha OR, Killian HJ, Davis AM, Lim SL, Bruce JM, Sotos JJ, Nelson SC, Bruce AS. Promoting Resilience to Food Commercials Decreases Susceptibility to Unhealthy Food Decision-Making. Front Psychol. 2020 Dec 2;11:599663. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.599663. eCollec — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Food Choice Change	Children rated on a 4-point Likert scale (1-Strong No, 2-No, 3-Yes, 4-Strong Yes) about whether they would choose to eat 60 different foods (30 unhealthy, 30 healthy) on a computer program. Higher values for unhealthy foods represented unhealthier food choices and higher values for healthy foods represented healthier food choices. The mean scores for unhealthy food choices were compared between pre- and post-intervention, and the mean scores for healthy food choices were compared between pre- and post-intervention.	Pre (day 0) and post intervention (day 7-10).
Primary	Food Tastiness Change	Children rated on a 4 point Likert scale (1-Very Bad, 2-Bad, 3-Good, 4-Very Good) about how tasty 60 different foods (30 unhealthy, 30 healthy) were on a computer program. A regression coefficient (beta) of food taste was estimated at an individual level by fitting a linear regression model where taste and health ratings predicted food choices for each child. Higher estimated regression coefficients represented higher decision weights of food taste attributes in food choices. The mean estimated regression coefficients were compared between pre- and post-intervention.	Pre (day 0) and post intervention (day 7-10).
Primary	Food Health Change	Children rated on a 4 point Likert scale (1-Very Unhealthy, 2-Unhealthy, 3-Healthy, 4-Very Healthy) about how healthy 60 different foods (30 unhealthy, 30 healthy) were on a computer program. A regression coefficient (beta) of food healthiness was estimated at an individual level by fitting a linear regression model where taste and health ratings predicted food choices for each child. Higher estimated regression coefficients represented higher decision weights of food healthiness attributes in food choices. The mean estimated regression coefficients were compared between pre- and post-intervention.	Pre (day 0) and post intervention (day 7-10).
Secondary	Level of Self-Control, as Measured by the Self-Control Scale	Children completed the 36-item self-control scale. Each item is rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (not at all like me) to 5 (very much like me). A total score (i.e., 36 response scores were summed) was computed for each child. The total score ranged between 36 (minimum) and 180 (maximum). The higher total score represented higher (better) perceived self-control. No subscales were used.	Children completed this item at the baseline visit (pre intervention).

External Links

•   Frontiers
•   Pubmed