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Looking cool or attaining self-rule. Different motives for autonomy and their effects on unhealthy snack purchase
F Marijn Stok1, Denise T D De Ridder, Marieke A Adriaanse
1Utrecht University, Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, The Netherlands. F.M.Stok@uu.nl
Abstract:
Being integral to adolescent health, autonomy presumably also is related to adolescent unhealthy snacking. We distinguish two differently motivated forms of autonomy: agentic autonomy, driven by a motivation to self-regulate, and self-presentational autonomy, driven by motives of image cultivation. The present study aimed to investigate the differential associations of these two types of motivation with unhealthy snack purchase in a prospective study among 105 adolescents. Results confirmed that agentic autonomy correlated with less unhealthy snack purchase, while self-presentational autonomy correlated with increased unhealthy snack purchase in males but not in females. This supports the hypothesis that autonomy is related to adolescent unhealthy eating, but can do so in different ways.
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Autonomy is the need to feel in control of one's actions and decisions. For example, a student who chooses their research topic is likely to be more engaged and motivated than one who is...

