THE VISUAL ANALOGUE SCALE AS A SIMPLE MEASUREMENT OF THE UNHEALTHY = TASTY INTUITION
(A2023-114282)

AUTHORS

Jonathan D'hondt, Ghent University; Barbara Briers, University of Antwerp

ABSTRACT

Worldwide, obesity is rising at an alarming rate. The implicit belief that healthiness and tastiness in food are inversely related decreases healthy food consumption and increases the risk of obesity. Since a substantial component of adult obesity is formed in childhood, identifying such risk factors both in adults and children is important. However, methods currently used to assess this Unhealthy = Tasty Intuition (UTI) are either unvalidated Likert scales or implicit measures that are time intensive and too complex to be used in child research. In two studies, we assess a simple visual analogue scale measurement. In our first study, we find that this measure better predicts dietary quality than the Likert-type scale in adults. In our second study, we find that this measure was correlated with more complex UTI measures and appetitive traits and predicted healthy food consumption in children. UTI was higher for older children (9-12) than for younger children (6-8).