| Fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with lower risks of several chronic diseases including stroke and various forms of cancer. However, current fruit and vegetable consumption, especially among children and adolescents, is well below the recommended 5 servings per day. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of social marketing on fruit and vegetable consumption among adolescents in the Salt Lake City School District, by comparing a school-based social marketing campaign to a 5 a Day curriculum-only intervention, and to no-intervention. Other study variables included self-efficacy, asking behaviors, knowledge, availability, presentation, and preferences for fruit and vegetables. The effect of the interventions on fruit and vegetable consumption, self-efficacy, and knowledge among parents and faculty at the 3 schools was also examined.; The study involved 7th- and 8th-grade students, parents, and faculty associated with Northwest Middle School (social marketing intervention, N = 177, 89, and 22 respectively), Bryant Intermediate School (curriculum-only comparison group, N = 166, 77, and 16 respectively), and Glendale Middle School (no intervention comparison group, N = 165, 92, and 21 respectively). Students completed a 63-item questionnaire, parents completed a 34-item questionnaire, and faculty completed a 15-item questionnaire. Nonparametric tests were selected for pretest to posttest analyses since the data represented ordinal measures. Specific analyses included the Kruskal-Wallis 1-way analysis of variance, Wilcoxon signed ranks, Mann-Whitney U, McNemar, Fisher's exact, and Spearman's rank-order tests.; Although changes in overall fruit and vegetable consumption among students was limited to choosing more fruit at lunch, a total of 18 other significant changes from pretest to posttest were noted in the social marketing intervention among students, parents, and teachers. Actual consumption of fruit and vegetables was higher in the curriculum-only comparison group. Results of this study suggest that a multicomponent intervention that combines cognitive approaches with social marketing-based environmental and policy changes may be more effective in changing fruit and vegetable consumption than either strategy alone. This study also suggests that social marketing effectively influences secondary target audiences. In general, this study supports continued use of social marketing to create necessary environmental and policy changes to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among adolescents. |
