- Click here for explanation of classification scheme.

To examine the likely cognitive and social ideological influences associated with teenage vegetarianism.

Students in Class 10 in South Australian schools.

Surveys with too many blank or inconsistent answers.

Recruitment

Students were selected from South Australian secondary schools that had been randomly selected according to the socioeconomic (SES) characteristics of the regions in which they were located.

Design

• Areas in South Australia were identified based on SES criteria (four clusters, ranked low to high). Schools were then randomly selected within these clusters. If a school did not participate, another school from the cluster was randomly selected.
• Both government and non-government schools were selected to get an approximately equal number of subjects from each type of school
• Class of Year 10 students (approximately 16 years of age) were selected and given an in-class anonymous survey
• More than 2,000 students from 52 schools were surveyed.

Blinding Used

Student responses were anonymous and self-administered independently in class and then placed into sealed envelopes for the researchers.

Intervention

None.

Statistical Analysis

• Simple frequency analyses were done on the reported vegetarian behaviors and contingency table analyses were used to compare the reported behaviors and attitudes of key groups of respondents
• Analyses of variance were used to compare the means of factor scores derived from principal components analysis of the respondents’ attitudes about meat and vegetarianism
• Discriminant analysis was used to identify the main vegetarian attitudes items that discriminated between vegetarian and non-vegetarian females
• Significance was set at P<0.05.

Timing of Measurements

• One-time survey conducted in 1994
• A vegetarianism questionnaire contained items concerning the respondents’ experiences of vegetarianism in the past and present, their views for and against it and the support expected from others. The vegetarian questionnaire was part of one of two booklets of questions which had been designed to examine media and ideological influences on young people’s eating and dieting habits.
• Answers to questions in the booklets (with the exception of the food intake questions) were measured using a Likert scale design.

Dependent Variables

Vegetarianism: Self-reported vegetarian status was used to classify teenagers as full or semi-vegetarians or non-vegetarians. Students responded to the question “Are you a Vegetarian?” by answering "No," "Semi-" or "Yes."

Independent Variables

• Food consumption: A list of 36-foods based on Baghurst’s (15) food frequency questionnaire was used as a self-reported measure of food consumption
• Attitudes about foods: A series of questions about a variety of foods were developed by the researchers and used to examine adolescents’ attitudes to foods
• Dieting behavior: Two separate measures of dieting behavior were used
  • Stunkard and Messick’s (16) “Three-factor Eating Questionnaire,” which measures restraint, disinhibition and hunger
  • Benbrook’s (17) “Body Weight Control” questionnaire.
• Appearance: Adolescents’ views of the importance of appearance were examined using a modified version of Hall et al’s (18) “Food, Fitness and Looks Questionnaire”
• Gender: Smith and Walker’s (19) “Women in Society Questionnaire” was adapted and made suitable for the teenage respondents of both sexes and used to examine their views of gender roles
• Media: Adolescents’ views of television were examined through a series of questionnaire items derived through prior interviews
• Environmental attitudes: A modified version of Herrera’s (21) “Questionnaire of Environmental Beliefs”
• Vegetarian views and experiences: A series of questions based on research done by Wright and Howcroft (22) on both adult and teenage vegetarians.

• Initial N: Surveys from more than 2,000 students were collected
• Attrition (final N): Only adolescent girls' responses were used. N=825 females.
• Age: Approximately 16 years at the time of the survey (school class 10)
• Ethnicity: Not reported
• Other relevant demographics: SES used as a control variable
• Anthropometrics: None reported
• Location: South Australia.

The authors found that adolescent female vegetarians are quite different from adult vegetarians.

• Vegetarian attitudes among teen girls is complex, sharing some of the ideological concerns of adult vegetarians, while at the same time incorporating elements that may not be as prevalent in adult vegetarians (such as a concern with body image and fashion)
• Because chicken was frequently consumed by female full and semi-vegetarians, the predominant concern with the welfare of animals as a motivation for vegetarianism may not extend beyond four-legged animals
• Adolescent female vegetarians placed more emphasis on weight control, concern with body appearance, fashion and the media than non-vegetarians. It is unclear whether vegetarianism is simply chosen more often by young females with eating disorders or whether vegetarianism could be stage in the development of eating disorders.

The authors tested a series of hypotheses regarding ideological influences on adolescent vegetarians (who were overwhelmingly female in this study).

Food Consumption

• Does self-reported vegetarianism (full or semi-) translate into actual differences in food intake?
• Female vegetarians and semi-vegetarians were less likely to consume whole milk (P<0.01) and meat (not counting chicken; P<0.001) and more likely to consume legumes (P<0.01) and chicken or rice (P<0.05). So, while female vegetarians were less likely to consume most meats, as a group (full and semi-vegetarians combined) they were more likely to consume chicken and still think of themselves as vegetarians.

Views of Food

• Hypothesis One: Adolescent vegetarians would hold different views of foods to non-vegetarians, positive views of fruit and vegetables and negative views of meats
• Findings: Anti-meat attitudes were strongest among vegetarian teenage females (P<0.001). They were also more pro-vegetables (P<0.001), pro-fruit (P<0.001) and more likely to practice meat restraint (P<0.001).
• Conclusion: Hypothesis One is supported. Teen female vegetarians have quite different views of food than their non-vegetarian counterparts.

Dieting Behavior

• Hypothesis Two: Vegetarian women would be less likely to diet to lose weight than would non-vegetarian girls
• Findings: Female full and semi-vegetarians reported very different dieting behaviors than their non-vegetarian female peers. They scored significantly higher on the dieting action score (P<0.001), exhibited greater restraint (P<0.001), less disinhibition (P<0.05), reported less hunger (P<0.05) and exhibited both mild (P<0.001) and extreme (P<0.001) dieting behaviors.
• Conclusion: The hypothesis is refuted. Female adolescent vegetarians are more likely to use dieting behaviors than their non-vegetarian peers. The authors speculate that the claim to be “vegetarian” may actually serve as a cover (a justification) for dietary habits that might otherwise be viewed negatively by their peers and family.

Appearance

• Hypothesis 3A: Teenage vegetarians should express less interest in body appearance and fashion than their same-sex peers
• Hypothesis 3B: Teenage vegetarians should show less interest in television than their same-sex peers
• Findings: Compared with non-vegetarian females, female adolescent vegetarians were more conscious of their appearance (P<0.001). Additionally, female vegetarians were less likely to rely on television for relaxation and entertainment, but were more likely to use television as a source of reference for their appearance and behavior (significance not reported).
• Conclusion: Both hypotheses 3A and 3B were refuted. Female vegetarian teens were more concerned with body appearance and fashion than their non-vegetarian peers. Additionally, they exhibited more interest in television as a reference point for fashion and behavior than non-vegetarians.

Gender Equity

• Hypothesis Four: Vegetarians are likely to hold more egalitarian views of gender than non-vegetarians
• Findings: Female adolescent vegetarians were significantly less supportive of traditional patriarchal attitudes (P<0.01) and more supportive of gender equality attitudes (P<0.01) than their non-vegetarian peers
• Conclusion: Female teen vegetarians were more likely to hold egalitarian views of gender than non-their vegetarian peers.

Interest in the Environment

• Hypothesis Five: Vegetarians would express more interest in environmental issues and animal welfare than would non-vegetarians
• Findings: Concern with environmental protection was the main concern of adolescent female vegetarians, but this was the only factor in which they differed significantly from non-vegetarians (P<0.01). Indeed, more than one-third of non-vegetarians expressed concern about animal cruelty, but did not translate this concern into dietary behaviors.

• Conclusions: This supports the hypothesis of more interest among female vegetarians in environmental issues. But this is only one among a cluster of related issues (treatment of animals being another) and was the only issue about which female vegetarians differed significantly from their peers.

• Adolescent vegetarianism is largely a female phenomenon characterized by meat avoidance, concern for the environment, animal welfare, gender equity, weight-loss behaviors and high concern with body appearance
• There was a strong association between adolescent vegetarianism and extreme weight-loss behaviors, which may be indicative of eating disorders. This requires further investigation.

Government:

MRC Australia

Report of methods in this article was very limited. However, because this article was the outcome of a larger study, the methods of data collection were reported elsewhere. Otherwise, this article would not have received a positive quality rating.