Abstract
An agent-based model SNACKMOMS was created to understand the implications and consequences of interventions that may change the dietary habits of children. It targets the giving of snacks to children aged 2–7 by their mother and how the snacking pattern is modified by the examples set at children parties. The model acknowledges individual-level, group-level and cultural-level variables. Dynamics of conformity at parties depending on social status are taken into account in Dutch, Indonesian and Italian culture, backed up by survey and interview data. The main model output is healthy versus unhealthy snacking, and it shows how this might change as a function of the mothers’ characteristics and of external intervention. Results suggest differences in the effectiveness of the intervention across countries whether interventions target children’s preferences versus mothers’ health orientation. This indicates that the same approach might not be equally effective across societies.
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The research was carried out thanks to the financial support of “Soremartec Italia Srl” (Alba, Cuneo, Italy). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.
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Hofstede, G.J., Franco, E., Damen, F., Fogliano, V. (2021). Healthy Snacks from Mom? An Agent-Based Model of Snackification in Three Countries. In: Ahrweiler, P., Neumann, M. (eds) Advances in Social Simulation. ESSA 2019. Springer Proceedings in Complexity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61503-1_41
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