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The aim of this paper is to demonstrate and discuss a number of child-centric research methods/stimuli involving young children (5-6 years old) in interviews without, and subsequently with their parents. Existing and new methods were selected and developed for a study which aimed at obtaining insights into parents’ and young children’s understandings of children’s influence and family interaction with regard to family food consumption practices.

A total of 35 children were interviewed using semi-structured interviews in five kindergartens. Subsequently, 13 families were interviewed in their homes. The latter interviews included the same children as were interviewed in the kindergarten. The methods discussed include drawings, a desert-island-choice task, a sentence completion task, photographs, vignettes and a video-clip.

When interviewing young children about family decision making influence, the use of engaging methods contributes to the quality of data achieved and to the participants’ enjoyment of their participation. Care should be taken not to overload children with exercises. Visual rather than verbal methods worked better for engaging the children in the research process; for parents all included methods worked well.

The current study shows that a method developed specifically for the study (desert-island-choice task) was apt at including all family members’ perspectives; future studies should develop methods that capture shared rather than individual experiences. The study was carried out in wealthy areas in Denmark. It would be highly relevant to broaden the sample to other socio-economic and cultural contexts.

The study is based on interviews with children usually deemed too young to interview. The contribution is novel methods that allow for studying the interaction between children and parents and that are not based on reading and writing skills to access the perspectives of 5-6-year old children. Precautions regarding using existing methods are offered.

Healthy‐eating socialization is often described as a bi‐directional process, but there are only few studies on children and parent's roles in the process. This paper aims to investigate children and parents' accounts of awareness and involvement in healthy eating and how they relate it to their roles in healthy‐eating socialization.

Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 38 families three months after a healthy‐eating intervention involving dietary advice and SMS feedback. The interviews were analysed by means of qualitative content analysis.

Children and parents identified several causes of awareness and involvement in healthy eating: new or re‐activated health knowledge, visualization of amounts, self‐regulation and planning. Children adopted two strategies in terms of family socialization: a direct strategy placing demands on parents or a cooperative strategy helping the parents. Parents initiated dialogues with family members about healthy eating and felt responsible as role models often honouring the children's demands and help.

Findings provide a concrete empirical account of the socialization process and confirm that parents still have the superior hand, when it comes to healthy eating, but with children as active players. The authors suggest future studies to explore the development of influence and awareness of healthy eating among children and the extent to which children wish to engage in healthy‐eating socialization.

The study supplements previous research by including children's immediate family as a unit of analysis. By taking an intra‐familiar systemic approach to studying family socialization, future studies can take into account the family support (or lack hereof), when designing interventions and evaluating the outcomes.

The purpose of the study was to apply the theory of planned behavior to predict Danish adolescents’ behavioral intention for healthy eating.

A cluster sample survey of 410 students aged 11 to 16 years studying in Grade 6 to Grade 10 was conducted in Denmark.

Perceived behavioral control followed by attitudes were the most important factors in predicting behavioral intention. Females and adolescents with a higher Body Mass Index were also found to have a stronger behavioral intention. Healthy eating was perceived to be beneficial and useful, and, to a lesser extent, interesting and desirable. Family, TV programs, and teachers were influential socialization agents.

The survey responses may be affected by a social desirability bias. The survey includes a non‐probability sample and results may not be generalized to all adolescents, even in Denmark.

The results may inform educators and policy makers in designing health communication interventions, particularly in making socializing agents aware of their role in fostering healthy eating behaviors in adolescents. As perceived behavioral control was the strongest predictor of behavioral intention, interventions and messages communicated to adolescents on healthy eating should aim to empower them with knowledge, ability and determination to eat more healthily.

The study uses a predictive, theoretical framework (TPB) to investigate healthy eating, whereas previous efforts among Danish adolescents have primarily used descriptive approaches.

The aim of this paper is to study the extent of change in parents' fruit and vegetable consumption during a period when their children participate in a school-based healthy eating intervention.

A total of 256 12-year-old Danish schoolchildren took part in a text-message feedback intervention promoting fruit and vegetable consumption. One parent of each child filled out self-administered questionnaires at three points during the 40-week study period. In the questionnaire, stated consumption, perceived influence factors on their consumption and self-efficacy and self-regulation were measured.

Only half of the parents stated that they met the “five a day” target. These parents reported good availability of fruit and vegetables in their household, high consumption among their friends and frequent exercise and they were characterised by high self-efficacy levels. Stated consumption increased during the period of the intervention targeted at their children. Parents that reported an increase had, at the start of the intervention, reported low levels of consumption, lack of encouragement to eat healthy at their workplace and lower autonomous self-regulation.

The consumption data is limited to self-report.

The results indicate that parents can be influenced indirectly by school-based interventions targeted at their children. Future interventions should include the family with the intent to support positive interaction that might further promote and sustain healthy eating habits.

The study considers the possible effects school interventions targeting children may have on the immediate family, an aspect generally overlooked in school-based health initiatives.

The consumer competence concept is loaded with ambiguity in the academic as well as in the public use of the term. The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept theoretically and empirically.

Consumer socialization theories were compared and combined for the theoretical background, and a mixed‐methods methodology was applied for the empirical part. The study included young adults aged 18‐25, who had recently established their first household. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to explore the way in which young consumers establish their first household, particularly with respect to how new, complex buying decisions are managed.

Guidance from family and friends was found to be of major significance as regards complex consumer decisions made in the transition period from home to first household. The young adults did not display very high levels of consumer competence in actual consumption decisions, however, more competent approaches were reported when respondents were faced with hypothetical purchase situations. The young consumers' own understanding of what consumer competence requires showed some degree of correspondence with traditional notions of “desirable consumer socialization,” but also added a fundamental consumer competence to the list: to carefully consider one's need to make a purchase.

The study included only a certain segment of young consumers. Future studies of consumer competence may include consumers of other age groups, consumers at different transitional life stages, or consumers with other cultural backgrounds to make comparative studies of the consumer competence of different segments of the population and across nations.

The study highlights a concept of importance to both consumers and marketers, which has previously been largely overlooked or only implicitly referred to.

The purpose of this paper is to explore Chinese adolescents' perceptions of healthy eating, their perceptions of various socializing agents shaping their eating habits, and their opinions about various regulatory measures which might be imposed to encourage healthy eating.

Four focus group interview sessions were conducted with 22 eighth and ninth grade adolescents (aged 13 to 15) in Hong Kong.

The participants perceived a balanced diet and regular meal times as the most important attributes of healthy eating. Participants were most likely to eat unhealthy food at parties, during festivals, and when socializing. They reported that mothers and teachers often advise them to eat healthy foods. They felt that banning the sale of soft drinks in schools and at sports centers and/or increasing the price of soft drinks might discourage their consumption, but felt that banning soft drink advertisements and/or making free drinking water more available would be ineffective.

The interviewees were mostly from low to middle income families. They may not be representative of all adolescents in Hong Kong or elsewhere, thus limiting the generalisabilty of the findings.

The study serves as a guideline for social services marketing professionals targeting adolescents. Social services marketers might consider influencing adolescents' eating habits through the parents and school teachers. Restricting selling of soft drinks at schools and sports centers and increasing the price of soft drinks should be considered, as these were considered relatively more effective than other measures. Seven testable hypotheses are proposed to guide further research.

This study aims to explore perceptions of healthy/unhealthy eating, and perceptions of various socializing agents encouraging healthy eating, amongst Chinese adolescents.

A survey was conducted of 152 seventh, eighth and ninth grade Hong Kong students. A structured questionnaire with closed‐ended questions was distributed in three public secondary schools.

Results showed that respondents frequently ate out with friends and frequently consumed a range of relatively unhealthy food (candies, chips, and soft drinks). They perceived that a balanced diet and eating at a regular time were the most important attributes of healthy eating. In terms of situational influences on their consumption, respondents most likely ate unhealthy food at parties, when eating out or with friends. They most likely ate healthy food at home and when they were sick. Looking at socializing agents, respondents claimed that parents and government publicity asked them to eat healthy food more often than teachers or friends. Parents were also perceived as being the most effective source in encouraging them to eat healthy food. In terms of alternative advertising appeals discouraging unhealthy eating, respondents considered news and fear appeals to be the most effective, while popularity and achievement appeals were considered to be relatively less effective.

The respondents were chosen from three secondary schools (two co‐ed schools and one school for boys). These three schools may not be representative of all schools in Hong Kong or elsewhere, thus limiting the generalizability of the findings.

The study can serve as a guideline for social services marketing professionals targeting adolescents. Looking at the findings in relation to socializing agents, social services marketers can consider influencing the adolescents' eating habits through the parents. As government publicity was perceived as a relatively weak socializing agent, there is a need to review health education materials targeting adolescents. Looking at the findings in relation to different advertising appeals discouraging unhealthy eating, news and fear appeals should be considered, as these were considered relatively more likeable and effective than other types of appeals.

The paper offers insights into designing communication strategies for adolescents. It is original in that it focuses on adolescents, and explores the perceptions of various socializing agents influencing healthy eating.

This article aims to examine young consumers' perceptions of healthy eating, contexts where healthy or unhealthy eating are practiced, and their evaluation of regulatory measures that discourage the consumption of unhealthy foods in two different markets.

A convenience sampled survey was conducted of 386 Danish and Chinese adolescents using a structured questionnaire.

Results showed that perceptions of healthy eating were generally based on concepts such as balance and moderation. Unhealthy eating was most frequently practiced at parties and in festive periods. Hong Kong respondents were more likely to associate eating habits with healthy eating than Danish respondents. Danish respondents were more likely to practice healthy eating at schools than Hong Kong respondents. Making tanks of cold water freely available everywhere was perceived to be most effective in discouraging the consumption of soft drink. There were age, gender and market differences in attitudes toward selected regulatory measures that discourage the consumption of soft drinks.

Health educators and public health campaign designers should design health communication messages that target different perceptions of unhealthy eating, as well as different unhealthy eating contexts. Policy makers should be aware of the difference in local environmental conditions when designing regulations to encourage healthy eating.

The study is an innovative attempt to examine adolescents' perception of healthy eating and attitudes toward food regulatory measures in more than one consumer market.