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Cultural and Sex-Related Differences in Free-Word Associations with "Sweets": A Multinational Online Study
Nicole Avena1,2, Réka Erika Kovács3, Angéla Somogyi3
1Department of Neuroscience, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA.
Nutrients
|June 12, 2026
Summary
Cultural background significantly shapes how people associate with "sweets," influencing food cognition across Hungarian, English, and Spanish speakers. These associations may also relate to body mass index and eating disorder risk, requiring further study.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Cross-cultural Psychology
- Nutritional Psychology
Background:
- Free-word association (FWA) reveals automatic cognitive representations of food categories.
- These representations can vary significantly across different cultures and sexes.
- Understanding these associations provides insight into food cognition.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate cultural differences in cognitive associations with the word "sweets" among Hungarian, English, and Spanish speakers.
- To examine the influence of sex on these associations.
- To explore potential relationships between these food associations, body mass index (BMI), and eating disorder risk.
Main Methods:
- A total of 1349 participants completed an online survey with a free-word association prompt.
- Responses were categorized into 10 semantic categories and analyzed using chi-square tests with Cramér's V for effect size.
- Participant height and weight were used to calculate body mass index (BMI).
Main Results:
- Significant differences in association profiles were found across language groups (Hungarian: Chocolate; English: Baked goods/Desserts, Sugar/Candy; Spanish: Positive emotion, Baked goods/Desserts).
- Sex differences in associations were also statistically significant.
- Body mass index distributions varied notably by nation, and sweets associations showed a tentative link to eating disorder risk, though this requires cautious interpretation due to data skew.
Conclusions:
- Cultural context is a major determinant of automatic cognitive associations with sweet foods.
- The observed exploratory link between sweets categories and eating disorder risk warrants further investigation with validated tools.
- Future research should focus on confirming these associations with robust methodologies.
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