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Updated: May 31, 2026

Assessment of Social Transmission of Food Preferences Behaviors
Published on: January 25, 2018
Social, attitudinal and behavioural correlates of fruit and vegetable consumption among Cypriot adolescents
Constantinos A Loucaides1, Russell Jago, Maria Theophanous
1Centre of Educational Research and Evaluation, Ministry of Education and Culture, Nicosia, Republic of Cyprus. conlou@avacom.net
Objective:
To examine the prevalence and correlates of fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption in Cypriot adolescents.
Design:
A cross-sectional study.
Setting:
The Republic of Cyprus.
Subjects:
A total of 1966 adolescents with a mean age of 14·7 (SD 2·2) years from nine elementary (n 448), six middle (n 657), five high (n 475) and five technical/vocational schools (n 386) in Cyprus. Participants completed a questionnaire assessing FV consumption using a two-item screening measure and a number of social, attitudinal and behavioural correlates of FV consumption.
Results:
Overall, 19·3% of adolescents reported consuming five or more portions of FV daily, with elementary and middle school students more likely to meet recommendations (23·8% and 24·4%, respectively) compared with high and technical/vocational school students (14·0% and 12·5%, respectively). Consuming five or more portions of FV was associated with preference for FV (OR = 2·2), family eating patterns (OR = 1·5), friends' FV consumption (OR = 1·2) and school support for FV consumption (OR = 0·8). Consuming at least one portion of fruit daily was significantly associated with preference for FV (OR = 2·0) and family eating patterns (OR = 1·7). Consuming at least one portion of vegetables daily was associated with preference for FV (OR = 4·2) and eating while watching television (OR = 0·8).
Conclusions:
Targeting individual and family-based components may enhance the effectiveness of intervention programmes to promote FV consumption.
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