Adaptation of the scale of effects of social media on eating behavior in Hungarian university students.

Background: People live in a technological world, where social media is used very commonly. Social media has effects on eating behaviors, as in other aspects. For this reason, it is important to measure social media effect. Objective: This study aimed to adapt the Scale of Effects of Social Media on Eating Behaviour (SESMEB) that examines the effect of social media on eating behavior in Hungarian university students. Material and methods: The SESMEB was translated into the target language by taking various stages. The online questionnaire including general information, social media use, and the eighteen-item SESMEB was used to collect data. The scale was administered to the study group consisting of 213 Hungarian university students, and data from 203 of them were analyzed. Confirmatory factor analyses were performed to test construct validity, and the Cronbach alpha coefficient was calculated for the reliability of the scale in Hungarian. Results: Total correlation value was higher than 0.50 for all items of the scale. The fit indices were at an acceptable level or had a perfect fit. The t-values were significant at the level of 0.1 and ranged between 2.927 and 5.706. The Spearman-Brown coefficient was calculated at 0.894. The reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated to be 0.866. SESMEB scores were different according to spending time daily, sharing content, and using filters or Photoshop on social media (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Higher than 0.80 Cronbach's alpha coefficient and other results show that Hungarian SESMEB is a valid and reliable tool. Therefore, Hungarian SESMEB will be useful for further studies to determine the impact of social media on eating behaviors.

Adaptation and Validation of the Food Neophobia Scale: The Case of Hungary.

Food neophobia is the fear or loathing of novel food, which may result in the rejection of the unfamiliar food item. The most frequently used and most reliable tool to measure adult food neophobia is the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS), which has been translated into several languages, making it possible to compare food neophobia levels around the world. The main objective of this research has been the adaptation and validation of the FNS in Hungary. In order to achieve the research objectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted on a representative sample of 500 adults; and, primarily, multivariate statistical tools were used. We found that despite the Hungarian population's strong neophobic tendency, neophobia and neophilia are present at the same time. We identified two distinctive factors in the course of the exploratory factor analysis ("Willingness and trust" and "Rejection and particularity"), which distinctly separate the negatively and positively worded (reversed) FNS items. Based on these factors, four clusters were identified. Those belonging in the group of adventurous open-minded individuals constitute an ideal target group for the manufacturers of novel food items as well as products with unusual flavors, especially if those products also have health-enhancing and eco-friendly qualities.

Examination of the Eating Behavior of the Hungarian Population Based on the TFEQ-R21 Model.

Several theories have emerged to study types of eating behavior leading to obesity, but most of the applied models are mainly related to food choice decisions and food consumer behavior. The purpose of this paper was to examine the eating attitudes of Hungarian consumers by applying the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21). The national representative questionnaire involved 1000 individuals in Hungary in 2019. Several multivariate statistical techniques were applied for the data analysis: exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, multivariate data reduction techniques, and cluster analysis. This study successfully managed to distinguish the following factors: emotional eating, uncontrolled eating, and cognitive restraint. By using the factors, five clusters were identified: Uncontrolled Emotional Eaters; Overweight, Uncontrolled Eaters; Controlled, Conscious Eaters; the Uninterested; and the Rejecters; all of these could be addressed by public health policy with individually tailored messages. The empirical results led to rejection of the original Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21), while the TFEQ-R16 model could be validated on a representative sample of adults, for the first time in Hungary.

The Effect of an Evaluative Label on Consumer Perception of Cheeses in Hungary.

Traditional strategies (such as education, economic incentives or prohibitions) targeted at altering dietary habits only influence health-conscious consumers. Less health-conscious consumers are less capable of self-regulatory behavior, therefore they are more likely to be influenced through perception. The present study aimed to examine how external cues such as labeling affect the consumer's perception of foods. The paper includes a case study based on an experiment. In the experiment the same cheese was tested with four different types of labeling (labeled "conventional", "low salt", "low fat" and "low salt and low fat"). It was found that the health halo effect worked in the case of cheese testing. In spite of all the samples being identical, the healthy samples were associated with considerably less sensory pleasure. The use of labels by the producers resulted in exactly the opposite effect to that intended. The experiment confirmed the efficiency of the application of this type of behavior-oriented nudge.