Examining associative conditioning with a positive peer context as a strategy to increase children's vegetable acceptance

Background: Children's vegetable acceptance increases following repeated exposure and associative conditioning pairing a target vegetable with a well-liked food. Yet traditional pairings may increase energy intake when well-liked foods are calorie-rich. Objectives: To examine whether pairing a non-food stimulus with target vegetables increases children's vegetable acceptance and whether effects exceed those of repeated exposure. Methods: Twenty-three 6-to-8-year-old children participated in twice-weekly sessions across 6 weeks of a summer camp serving children from low-income families. First- and second-grade camp classrooms were randomly assigned to associative conditioning and repeated exposure groups, respectively. Liking and preference were assessed for seven vegetables at pre/post-test. For each child, two non-preferred vegetables were randomly assigned as the target or control. During exposures, associative conditioning group children experienced a positive peer context (involving group games) paired with tasting their target vegetable. The repeated exposure group received only taste exposures; target vegetable liking was assessed. Results: Preferences for target vegetables increased from pre- (Median = 6.00) to post-test (Median = 3.00) overall (P =.007), but did not differ by group (P =.59). Group, time and interaction effects on vegetable liking were non-significant overall (P ≥.29), with some evidence of group differences when examining select time points. Conclusions: Findings can inform future research aiming to increase vegetable preferences in community settings.