The tween television diet: a content analysis of US tween program food references

Abstract

This content analysis, grounded in social cognitive theory, examined the nutritional quality of food, the outcomes associated with consuming food, the characters who reference food, and the context of food on narrative tween (9–14 year olds) television programs shown on Disney, Disney XD, Nickelodeon, Teen Nick, and Cartoon Network in the 2004–2013 seasons. Nutritious foods were portrayed more frequently than non-nutritious foods, and the outcomes of consuming food were mostly neutral, followed by positive, and then negative outcomes. Attractive characters most frequently experienced positive outcomes for consuming nutritious foods, whereas average-looking characters most frequently experienced negative outcomes for consuming nutritious food. Significant two-way interactions were found for nutritional quality with both food purpose and food occasion. Results are discussed in light of the healthful messages portrayed on tween television and the potential for modeling effects among tweens.

Keywords:

• Content analysis
• social cognitive theory
• nutritional literacy
• television—psychological effects
• television and tweens
• food
• obesity
• children and youth
• television viewers—health
• global obesity

Notes

1. “Tween” is a popular marketing concept (Schor, 2004), and it was used in this paper, instead of other popular terms such as “preadolescent” or “pre-teen,” because our focus is the shows that are marketed to the tween audience.

2. For 2013, Disney Channel averaged 2.49 million daily total viewers (Kissell, 2015), Nickelodeon averaged 1.25 million (Knox, 2014), Cartoon Network averaged 792,000, Disney XD averaged 292,000, and TeenNick averaged 128,000 viewers.

3. The sample included the following, listed by descending order of number of episodes: Degrassi: The Next Generation (16 episodes), iCarly (14), Good Luck Charlie, Hannah Montana, Instant Star, VicTORious, Wizards of Waverly Place (eight), A.N.T Farm, Austin & Ally, House of Anubis, Jessie, Kickin’ It, Pair of Kings, Shake it Up, The Suite Life on Deck, True Jackson, VP, Zeke & Luther (six), The Best Years, Dog with a Blog, Lab Rats, Level Up, Sonny with a Chance, South of Nowhere, Zoey 101 (four), Bucket and Skinner’s Epic Adventures, Gigantic, Hollywood Heights, How to Rock, Liv and Maddie, Marvin Marvin, Mighty Med, Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide, Tower Prep, Wendell & Vinnie (two), The Haunted Hathaways, Sam & Cat, and The Thundermans (one).