Contemporary Issues: Production and Consumption
Attitudes of Individuals towards the Use of Digital Diet Tracker for Health
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Chiu-Fui Joyce Mok
Over the years, there is a rising number of health problems in Singapore. The likelihood of younger individuals to become obese has also increased. This poses a problem for Singapore’s healthcare system. The use of dietary tracker as a form of self-monitoring is thus introduced to encourage a healthier lifestyle among individuals. The purpose of this paper is to explore the attitudes of individuals towards the use of dietary tracker as a form of self-monitoring on health status. This paper draws data from a sample group of 150 college students ranging from 18 to 35 years old. The data collated were computed and analysed using SPSS for statistical analysis. Results from this study had shown significant relation between demographics (gender and ethnic group) and use of dietary tracker. Surprisingly, there was no significant relationship between BMI and the use of a dietary tracker. It was reported that health related reasons were the driving factor for individuals who have used a dietary tracker. Similarly, individuals who were not bothered about their food choices would not use a dietary tracker. In all, the understanding of individuals attitude towards self-monitoring would help government bodies and health organisations to tap on this information to encourage self-monitoring via a digital dietary tracker.
Are Small and Beginning Farmers Drawn to Diversification?: Findings from the Ohio New and Small Farm College
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Matthew Mariola, Amyaz Moledina
There is increasing recognition among agriculture and food scholars that farm diversification is an important means of sustaining farm livelihoods, ensuring a varied food supply, providing ecosystem services, and preserving agrobiodiversity. Yet economic forces continue to push in the opposite direction, compelling farmers to scale up and choose monocultures in order to achieve economies of scale. New farmers and small farmers typically lack the land base and capital necessary to farm at these large scales, making them a population perhaps more likely to consider diversified farming. We use data from 10 years' worth of entry surveys at a New and Small Farm College in Ohio (n=578) to answer two basic questions: Are new and small farmers drawn to diversification, and are there differences by gender and age in the types of diversified farming preferred? Results indicate a clear preference for diversified forms of production other than standard commodity row crops, with some commonalities and some interesting differences between males and females. We close by discussing implications for the food system more broadly, as these are preferences being indicated by our primary food producers, yet these producers continue to work in the midst of very challenging economic forces.
The Healthy-eater Identity: An Exploration of Behavioral and Emotional Outcomes of Identity (Non)Verification
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sarah Stembridge
This study examines the meanings attached to and attitudes taken towards food through the lens of identity. Specifically, I seek to understand how current meanings attached to food are internalized by individuals for whom healthy-eating becomes incorporated into the sense of self. I do so by employing an identity theory framework to investigate the influences of a healthy-eater identity on behavior, emotion, and attitudes taken towards food and eating. Behaviors examined include grocery stores shopped at most frequently, use of food-related media, and self-elected social exclusion. Emotional outcomes include experiences of guilt upon eating food considered unhealthy, and distress upon finding oneself in a social situation in which available food options do not meet the standards of acceptability. Attitudinal outcomes include food anxiety and orthorexia. A survey was distributed electronically and yielded 540 responses. Results indicate that the salience of the healthy-eater identity influences the examined outcomes as hypothesized.
