Research ArticleAutonomous Motivation and Fruit/Vegetable Intake in Parent–Adolescent Dyads
Introduction
The majority of Americans do not consume recommended amounts of fruits or vegetables (FVs). Rates are low among adolescents, who are recommended to consume 1.5–2 cups of fruit and 2–2.5 cups of vegetables daily.1 Adolescents consuming lower than the recommended amount of FVs is of public health concern given the known health benefits associated with adequate FV consumption.2, 3
Several studies have examined theory-based psychosocial factors to understand and promote FV intake. Self-determination theory (SDT)4 is one theory that has been applied to understanding motivational mechanisms of health behaviors and designing health behavior interventions.5 SDT posits a motivational continuum from controlled (motivated by external factors) to autonomous (motivated for reasons associated with personal choice, interest, or value).4 Although intrinsic motivation (genuine enjoyment/interest in a behavior) is the most autonomous form, there are other autonomous motivations often assessed in relation to healthy behaviors. These motivations include identified (personally valuing a behavior) and integrated (valuing a behavior and viewing it as aligned with other personal values).4, 6
Being autonomously motivated can promote engagement in and maintenance of behaviors.4, 5, 6 Autonomous forms of motivation have been positively associated with adults’ FV intake7, 8 and can predict health-related behaviors among adolescents, such as greater physical activity and lower engagement in marijuana use, sexual intercourse, and smoking.9, 10, 11, 12 Autonomous motivations can also be targeted in health behavior interventions. For example, autonomous motivation has been included in an intervention for diet and physical activity through motivational interviewing. A motivational interviewing component of an intervention to increase these behaviors among African American adults asked participants about their behavioral motivations and how they are linked to their personal goals.13 This strategy was associated with increased autonomous motivation, which partially mediated increased FV intake.13 Another study facilitated adolescents’ autonomous motivation for healthy eating through team projects and personal commitments to healthy behaviors, as part of an intervention targeting psychosocial variables from SDT and social cognitive theory.14 This research suggests the relevancy of autonomous motivation for eating behavior interventions.
The social context is central to SDT. Autonomous motivation can be promoted via autonomy-supportive contexts in which an authority figure (e.g., parent) takes into account the individual’s (e.g., child’s) perspective, provides opportunity for choice, and supports the individual in feeling capable of enacting goal behaviors.5, 15, 16 These supports can promote autonomous motivation and behavior change.17, 18 In one study, perceived autonomy support from parents was indirectly associated with adolescents’ behavior intentions (including for FV intake) through autonomous motivation and theory of planned behavior constructs.19 However, research has not examined how parents’ and adolescents’ individually reported motivation affects both their own behavior and each other’s behavior.
Examining how psychosocial variables affect parent–adolescent dyads can build understanding of how family context relates to FV intake. Reviews have found parent and adolescent FV intake to be positively correlated.20, 21 In addition, multiple theoretical approaches, including social cognitive theory,22 family systems theory,23 and the model of family reciprocal determinism,24 propose that characteristics of an individual and his or her environment (including the family environment) are inter-related. This suggests the importance of examining the interplay of social (e.g., familial) contexts and individual characteristics shaping FV intake.
Few dyadic analyses have examined individual-level factors that may explain associations in obesity-related behaviors among members of a dyad (dyadic interdependence). The studies that have been done suggest that the dyad is an important social unit to consider when understanding psychosocial influences on health behaviors. One study found that attitudes, self-efficacy, and barriers related to FVs were positively correlated between parents and their adolescent children, and that parents’ reports on these variables influenced their adolescent’s diet.25 Using an actor–partner interdependence model (APIM), a statistical technique that accounts for dyadic interdependence, another study found that young adults’ health behavior attitudes predicted their mothers’ diet and physical activity behaviors in addition to their own behaviors.26 Another APIM found that one’s perceived behavioral control (perception of ability to do a particular behavior with ease)27 predicted their romantic partner’s physical activity intentions.28
These cross-sectional dyadic surveys demonstrate that theory-informed health behavior constructs can correlate with the behavior of another person. However, these dyadic analyses have not incorporated variables included in SDT. The current study expands upon emerging evidence that an individual’s psychosocial variables may affect others’ health behaviors, and the salience of the social context in SDT, by examining dyadic associations between autonomous motivation and FV intake. This analysis uses publicly available data from the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) Study and illustrates how FLASHE data can be utilized to study interdependence among parent–adolescent dyads.
Section snippets
Data Source and Sample
The FLASHE study is a U.S. survey funded by the National Cancer Institute. FLASHE assessed diet and physical activity behaviors (and their correlates) among a national sample of dyads of parents and their adolescent children (aged 12–17 years). As described in this issue,29 the FLASHE conceptual model was informed by existing literature and frameworks related to health behavior, including family systems theory,23 social ecological models,30 and SDT.4
This cross-sectional study was fielded by
Results
Descriptive information about the sample is presented in Table 2. Parent and adolescent FV intake frequency were positively associated and demonstrated a good amount of within-dyad similarity (r=0.51, p<0.001). Parent and adolescent autonomous motivation were also positively correlated (r=0.29, p<0.001).
Table 3 shows associations between demographic variables and the predictors and outcomes in the APIM. Female participants and parents with a 4-year college degree reported greater autonomous
Discussion
Autonomous motivation was associated with one’s own FV intake frequency and that of their partner (parent or adolescent). Within dyads, parent and adolescent reports of their own autonomous motivation were positively correlated, which contributed to parent–adolescent interdependence in FV intake frequency.
Actor effects (one’s autonomous motivation predicting their own FV intake frequency) were larger in magnitude than the partner effects (one’s autonomous motivation predicting their partner’s
Conclusions
The present study investigated how parents’ and adolescents’ autonomous motivation is associated with their own FV intake, their partner’s FV intake, and the interdependence in FV intake within dyads. The results are consistent with prior findings that parent and adolescent FV intakes are interdependent.20, 21 This analysis also contributes to the few existing studies that have incorporated constructs from health behavior theories into a dyadic context and demonstrates that autonomous
Acknowledgments
This article is part of a theme issue supported by the National Institutes of Health. The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official position of the National Institutes of Health. Leslie A. Lytle, Ph.D. and Louise C. Mâsse, Ph.D. served as Guest Editors of the theme issue.
We thank Kara Wiseman, PhD, MPH, Cancer Prevention Fellow in the Behavioral Research Program at the National Cancer Institute, for her support in searching
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This article is part of a theme section titled The Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) Study: Insights Into Cancer-Prevention Behaviors Among Parent–Adolescent Dyads.