Refine
Year of publication
- 2014 (1)
Document Type
- Doctoral Thesis (1)
Language
- English (1)
Has Fulltext
- yes (1)
Keywords
- Acculturation (1) (remove)
Institute
- Institut für Humanwissenschaften (1) (remove)
Unhealthy eating behaviour among adolescents is a worldwide problem. In Germany, adolescents with a Turkish migration background constitute a high-risk group. Furthermore, the level of acculturation was found to be linked to eating behaviour and its social-cognitive determinants. In order to develop effective interventions, it is important to identify relevant social-cognitive determinants of eating behaviour and to find out whether cultural differences exist. The present thesis therefore combined the research line on explaining health/risk behaviour via social-cognitive theories using the prototype-willingness model (PWM) with the line of research on culture and acculturation. For the explanation of eating behaviour, the PWM was firstly differentiated. Social norms whose influence was identified to be culture-specific were operationalised as descriptive and subjective norms. Secondly, this differentiated PWM was extended by acculturation as a background factor. The level of acculturation was hypothesised to influence every variable of the differentiated PWM. The models were tested in one cross-sectional study (Study II) and in two longitudinal studies (Study I and III). Study I analysed adolescent Turkish migrants’ eating behaviour in comparison to adolescent non-migrants in the host country Germany using the differentiated PWM. Study II conducted an analogical analysis with adolescent Turkish migrants in Germany compared to adolescent non-migrants in the home country Turkey. Latent mean differences, associations of variables, and group differences within these associations were analysed using multiple-group structural equation modelling. Study III analysed associations of variables within the differentiated and extended PWM using structural equation modelling in a sample of adolescent Turkish migrants. Latent mean differences across adolescent Turkish migrants and non-migrants in Germany as well as non-migrants in Turkey, prediction patterns for the given cultural groups, and the association between acculturation and the differentiated PWM for adolescent Turkish migrants were revealed. Theoretical implications for the PWM, culture, and acculturation as well as influences of adolescent Turkish migrants’ eating behaviour in comparison to adolescent non-migrants in Germany and Turkey are shown. These influences are targets for effective culture-specific and generic interventions regarding healthy eating among adolescents in the given cultural groups.