Abstract
High mortality rates associated with cancer and cardiovascular disease in Romania have been partly attributed to low fruit consumption. The aim of the present research was to test whether self-incentives delivered via implementation intentions could increase fruit consumption among 238 high-risk Romanian adolescents. Participants were randomly allocated to either: (1) a control condition (asked to plan to increase their fruit intake but given no further instruction), (2) a standard implementation intention condition (asked to form an implementation intention using standard open-ended instructions), or (3) a self-incentivizing implementation intention condition (asked to reward themselves at the end of the week if they had successfully consumed an extra portion of fruit each day). There were significant increases in fruit consumption in the self-incentivizing implementation intention condition, but not in the control condition or—contrary to predictions—in the standard implementation intention condition. The findings support the use of implementation intentions to deliver self-incentives and increase fruit consumption, and suggest that providing children with a structured prompt might enhance the effectiveness of implementation intention-based interventions compared with standard implementation intention instructions.
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Notes
Note that figures associated with morbidity from ischemic heart disease are not available.
The strength of the evidence concerning the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption for protection against cancer in the general population is currently being questioned (e.g., Key 2011). However, within this debate, it is acknowledged that if there are any positive effects of fruit and vegetable consumption on cancer risk, those positive effects are most likely to be found in populations eating very low amounts of fruits and vegetables (e.g., Key 2011). Moreover, as noted below, the consumption of fruits and vegetables is typically aggregated, and so, it is plausible that either fruit or vegetable consumption may yet be shown to have positive effects in reducing cancer risk.
With Bulgaria, Romania has the lowest gross domestic product per inhabitant in the European Union (Eurostat 2011).
Note that the “two or fewer” cutoff was chosen because the Romanian government recommends that people should try to eat three portions of fruit each day (see European Food Information Council 2009).
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I would like to thank Anamaria Duduta for her help with collecting and entering the data.
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Armitage, C.J. Evidence That Self-Incentives Increase Fruit Consumption: A Randomized Exploratory Trial Among High-Risk Romanian Adolescents. Prev Sci 15, 186–193 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-012-0346-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-012-0346-6