The use and the attributions of some sweet foods

The attributes people give to certain sweet foods and the connections between these attributes and the use of food were assessed in 515 men and women from different age, educational and social groups. The foods specifically named were: ice cream, sweetened yogurt, and soft drinks. The subjects were classified according to their reported consumption frequency of the sweet foods. The attributes of foods were assessed by the semantic differential technique. On the basis of factor analysis of the attributions, four meaning dimensions were identified for each food. The dimensions for ice cream and sweetened yogurt were labelled 'personal use', 'healthfulness', 'nutritiveness', and 'psychosocial meaning'. The mean dimensions of soft drinks were labelled 'emotional meaning', 'social meaning', 'healthfulness', and 'personal use'. These meanings of the foods correlated with their reported frequency of use: those who associated positive attributes to a particular food also used that food more often than the others.