Abstract
Introduction: Gender differences have been identified in both the engagement in and the determinants of sustainable diet behaviours. However, as engagement in pro-environmental behaviours varies across countries, the consistency of gender differences could follow similar patterns. Understanding the factors underlying gender and country differences in diet intentions is important for determining how to promote sustainable diets in different populations.
Methods: Using survey data from the UK, China, Sweden and Brazil (N=4,569), this paper examines the influence of subjective norms, diet-related identity, perceived status of meat consumption, environmental identity and environmental concern on sustainable diet intentions. Multigroup analysis was used to explore gender and country differences in the influence of these variables, and whether gender differences were consistent across the four countries.
Results: The findings show that there are gender differences in the influence of diet-related identity and perceived status of meat consumption, as well as cross-country differences in all factors except subjective norms. Holding a strong diet-related meat identity negatively affected sustainable diet intentions in all groups. Crucially, however, gender differences are not consistent across countries.
Discussion: These results suggest that individuals’ intentions to engage in sustainable diet behaviours are influenced by nationally unique gender associations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1355969 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Volume | 15 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 29 Feb 2024 |
Data Availability Statement
The data analyzed in this study is subject to the following licenses/restrictions: all data and accompanying will be made available to the UK Data Service (https://ukdataservice.ac.uk) by the end of the CAST (ES/S012257/1) project, as per the requirement of the ESRC. The data will be deposited before 31 July 2024. Before then, the data files can be requested from the authors of the paper. Requests to access these datasets should be directed to EC, [email protected].Funding
The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This project received support from the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) through the Centre for Climate Change & Social Transformations (CAST), Grant Ref: ES/S012257/1.
Keywords
- behavioral intentions
- country comparisons
- diet
- gender
- structural equation modeling
- sustainability
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Psychology