Lifestyle-related characteristics of young low-meat consumers and omnivores in Sweden and Norway

doi:10.1016/S1054-139X(02)00344-0

Journal of Adolescent Health

Volume 31, Issue 2, August 2002, Pages 190-198

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1054-139X(02)00344-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the lifestyle-related characteristics of low-meat consumer and omnivore adolescents in Sweden and Norway.

Methods: A total of 2041 students (578 from Umeå, Sweden; 504 from Stockholm, Sweden; and 959 from Bergen, Norway), with a mean age of 15.5 years, completed a questionnaire. Information was collected about physical characteristics, and health, family situation, social, exercise, alcohol, and tobacco habits. The response rate was 95% in Umeå, 91% in Stockholm, and 83% in Bergen. Statistical analyses included Chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests.

Results: There was no reported difference between low-meat consumers and omnivores with respect to alcohol use, smoking, weight, or amount of exercise. Female low-meat consumers more frequently used smokeless tobacco, reported having more sick days during the last year, attached less importance to “being healthy,” and had been depressed more often than female omnivores. Male low-meat consumers reported, to a greater extent than male omnivores, having been tired without reason, having often had headaches and having been depressed. Female low-meat consumers had parents with a higher average level of education than did female omnivores and more often spent time with friends after school.

Conclusions: Vegetarianism or low-meat consumption is mainly a female phenomenon among adolescents in this study. The study indicates that the lifestyle of young low-meat consumers differs from the lifestyle found in previous studies of vegetarians with respect to the respondents’ exercise habits, their perception of their own health, and their use of alcohol and tobacco. Contrary to findings from other studies, adherence to a low-meat diet may not correlate with other health promotion practices among adolescents in Sweden and Norway.

Section snippets

Subjects

This study was performed in three cities: Umeå in northeastern Sweden (104,000 inhabitants), Stockholm in mid-eastern Sweden (1.8 million inhabitants), and Bergen in western Norway (220,000 inhabitants). Lists of municipal senior secondary schools were obtained from the education authorities and the students were recruited during the autumn of 1996. The Swedish subjects were recruited by a random sample of the ninth-grade classes (with students aged 15 to 16 years) of municipal senior secondary

Results

Of 149 low-meat consumers, 72.5% were females and information about gender was missing for one low-meat consumer. The average response rate for questionnaire items was 96% and the lowest item response rate was 80%. There were no significant differences in age, weight, or height among respondents with different diets or from different cities.

Discussion

The participants in this study were drawn from a population of 15- to 16-year-old students in Umeå, Stockholm, and Bergen. School attendance in the ninth grade is compulsory in the Swedish and Norwegian school systems, and the rate of participation in the study was very high as all students in the classrooms completed the questionnaire. The 24 schools in Bergen ranged in size from one to five classes of ninth graders, so clustering probably reduced precision. However, the schools selected were

Conclusion

Low-meat consumption is mainly a female phenomenon. The results of this study suggest that the lifestyle of young low-meat consumers differs from lifestyles of vegetarians in previous studies in the areas of perception of health, participation in organizations and clubs, frequency of exercise, alcohol consumption, and tobacco use. Contrary to findings in other studies, adherence to a low-meat diet may not correlate with other health promotion practices among adolescents in Sweden and Norway.

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Swedish Foundation for Healthcare Science and Allergy Research, Swedish Nutrition Foundation, Research Foundation of Bertil Eriksson, Fund of Uppsala Hemsysterskola, JC Kempes Memorial Fund, and Patentmedelsfonden för odontologisk profylaxforskning.

We thank all the students who participated; Inger Öhlund, Linda Hagfors, and Maria Larsson for valuable help with data entry; and AB PT Datatech Systems Sweden, Peter Tanskanen, and Seppo Salonen for computer

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Research on the relationship between vegetarianism and subjective well-being (SWB) has produced inconsistent results, which may partly be due to small sample sizes and divergent operationalizations of well-being. For these reasons, the present study aimed to thoroughly examine this association in two large representative samples from Germany (Study 1: N = 12,905, including 665 vegetarians) and Australia (Study 2: N = 15,532, including 383 vegetarians) using a consensual conceptualization of SWB (composed of an affective component, i.e., positive and negative affect, and a cognitive component, i.e., life satisfaction). Results of t-tests showed that vegetarians reported slightly higher scores in negative affect (Study 1 and 2), but also slightly higher levels of satisfaction with health (Study 1 and 2) and life satisfaction (Study 1) compared to meat eaters. No differences emerged regarding positive affect in either study. These differences between vegetarians and meat-eaters in some components of SWB, although significant due to the large sample sizes, are small at best (d around 0.15). Because sex, age, and education were associated with diet type and SWB, analyses controlling for socio-demographic variables were also conducted. In these ANCOVAS, the effect of diet emerged only for one out of the five formerly significant comparisons (negative affect in Study 1, d = 0.09) while the differences between vegetarians and meat eaters in both satisfaction with health and life, as well as the effect on negative affect in Study 2, all became non-significant (d around 0.05). Taken together, the very small effects found in the t-tests for some components of SWB seem to be due to socio-demographic variables, meaning that the true effects of diet on SWB are non-existent or negligible.
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All three types of omnivores had similarly lower levels of mental illness, as compared with the group of vegetarians (Burkert et al., 2014). Adolescents who are vegetarian are also more likely to be depressed than adolescent omnivores (Larsson et al., 2002) and to have contemplated or attempted suicide (Perry et al., 2001). Analyses of retrospective reports of onset indicate that onset of mental disorder tends to precede onset of vegetarian diet.
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International articleLifestyle-related characteristics of young low-meat consumers and omnivores in Sweden and Norway

Abstract

Section snippets

Subjects

Results

Discussion

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Health practices, attitudes, and beliefs of vegetarians and nonvegetarians

J Am Diet Assoc

The vegetarian adolescent

Adolesc Med

Adolescent vegetarians

Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med

Influences on meat avoidance among British students

Appetite

Attitudes towards meat-eating in vegetarian and non-vegetarian teenage girls in England—an ethnographic approach

Appetite

Two small surveys, 25 years apart, investigating motivations of dietary choice in 2 groups of vegetarians in the Boston area

J Am Diet Assoc

A demographic and social profile of age- and sex-matched vegetarians and nonvegetarians

J Am Diet Assoc

Differences in health, knowledge and attitudes between vegetarians and meat eaters in a random population sample

J R Soc Med

Nutritional status of “new” vegetarians

J Am Diet Assoc

Who are they? The new vegetarians

J Am Diet Assoc

The epidemiology of vegetarianism and health

Nutr Res Rev

Health and vegetarian life-style

Bibl Nutr Dieta

I sjukdomarnas häxkittel [In the Cauldron of Disease]

Mortality in vegetarians and nonvegetariansDetailed findings from a collaborative analysis of 5 prospective studies

Am J Clin Nutr

Relative validity and reliability of a mailed food use questionnaire

International article
Lifestyle-related characteristics of young low-meat consumers and omnivores in Sweden and Norway