Parents' and children's categorization of candy are similar: A card sort protocol

Jennifer S. Savage; Holly A. Harris; Julia A. Bleser; Brandi Y. Rollins

doi:10.3390/nu11102472

Parents' and children's categorization of candy are similar: A card sort protocol

Jennifer S. Savage^*, Holly A. Harris, Julia A. Bleser, Brandi Y. Rollins

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

American children frequently consume candy and, in excess, this may contribute to poor diets with attendant effects on obesity risk. Despite the ubiquity of candy in children’s diets, parental concern about children’s candy intake, and the diversity of confectionery products available, very little is known about how children and their parents conceptualize candy. Card sorting tasks offer a novel and visual technique to explore and compare an individuals’ perceptions of foods and are useful where literacy is limited (e.g. young children). This study aimed to understand and compare how young school-aged children and parents categorize various candy products using a photo card sorting task. In individual laboratory sessions, children (n = 42, 5 to 8 years old) and parents (n = 35) categorized 51 types of candy based on their similarity. A cluster analysis showed that parents created more categories of candies than children (11 versus 8). For example, parents distinguished between candied fruit and candied nuts, whereas children tended to collapse these categories. However, 7 clusters were virtually identical between parents and children (93% similarity). The findings from this study can inform the measurement of candy intake and the development of education materials targeted towards parent feeding around candy.

Original language	English
Article number	2472
Journal	Nutrients
Volume	11
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11102472
Publication status	Published - Oct 2019
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The National Confectioners’ Association supported this research. Additional support was received from USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture Grant # 2011-67001-30117. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Confectioners’ Association or USDA.

Funding Information:
Funding: The National Confectioners’ Association supported this research. Additional support was received from USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture Grant #2011-67001-30117. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Confectioners’ Association or USDA.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

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This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.3390/nu11102472

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title = "Parents' and children's categorization of candy are similar: A card sort protocol",

abstract = "American children frequently consume candy and, in excess, this may contribute to poor diets with attendant effects on obesity risk. Despite the ubiquity of candy in children{\textquoteright}s diets, parental concern about children{\textquoteright}s candy intake, and the diversity of confectionery products available, very little is known about how children and their parents conceptualize candy. Card sorting tasks offer a novel and visual technique to explore and compare an individuals{\textquoteright} perceptions of foods and are useful where literacy is limited (e.g. young children). This study aimed to understand and compare how young school-aged children and parents categorize various candy products using a photo card sorting task. In individual laboratory sessions, children (n = 42, 5 to 8 years old) and parents (n = 35) categorized 51 types of candy based on their similarity. A cluster analysis showed that parents created more categories of candies than children (11 versus 8). For example, parents distinguished between candied fruit and candied nuts, whereas children tended to collapse these categories. However, 7 clusters were virtually identical between parents and children (93% similarity). The findings from this study can inform the measurement of candy intake and the development of education materials targeted towards parent feeding around candy.",

author = "Savage, {Jennifer S.} and Harris, {Holly A.} and Bleser, {Julia A.} and Rollins, {Brandi Y.}",

note = "Funding Information: The National Confectioners{\textquoteright} Association supported this research. Additional support was received from USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture Grant # 2011-67001-30117. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Confectioners{\textquoteright} Association or USDA. Funding Information: Funding: The National Confectioners{\textquoteright} Association supported this research. Additional support was received from USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture Grant #2011-67001-30117. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Confectioners{\textquoteright} Association or USDA. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.",

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N2 - American children frequently consume candy and, in excess, this may contribute to poor diets with attendant effects on obesity risk. Despite the ubiquity of candy in children’s diets, parental concern about children’s candy intake, and the diversity of confectionery products available, very little is known about how children and their parents conceptualize candy. Card sorting tasks offer a novel and visual technique to explore and compare an individuals’ perceptions of foods and are useful where literacy is limited (e.g. young children). This study aimed to understand and compare how young school-aged children and parents categorize various candy products using a photo card sorting task. In individual laboratory sessions, children (n = 42, 5 to 8 years old) and parents (n = 35) categorized 51 types of candy based on their similarity. A cluster analysis showed that parents created more categories of candies than children (11 versus 8). For example, parents distinguished between candied fruit and candied nuts, whereas children tended to collapse these categories. However, 7 clusters were virtually identical between parents and children (93% similarity). The findings from this study can inform the measurement of candy intake and the development of education materials targeted towards parent feeding around candy.

AB - American children frequently consume candy and, in excess, this may contribute to poor diets with attendant effects on obesity risk. Despite the ubiquity of candy in children’s diets, parental concern about children’s candy intake, and the diversity of confectionery products available, very little is known about how children and their parents conceptualize candy. Card sorting tasks offer a novel and visual technique to explore and compare an individuals’ perceptions of foods and are useful where literacy is limited (e.g. young children). This study aimed to understand and compare how young school-aged children and parents categorize various candy products using a photo card sorting task. In individual laboratory sessions, children (n = 42, 5 to 8 years old) and parents (n = 35) categorized 51 types of candy based on their similarity. A cluster analysis showed that parents created more categories of candies than children (11 versus 8). For example, parents distinguished between candied fruit and candied nuts, whereas children tended to collapse these categories. However, 7 clusters were virtually identical between parents and children (93% similarity). The findings from this study can inform the measurement of candy intake and the development of education materials targeted towards parent feeding around candy.

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Parents' and children's categorization of candy are similar: A card sort protocol

Abstract

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