Wencke Gwozdz

Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen | JLU · Department of consumer research & communication & food sociology

Previous research has mostly neglected the situations in which food consumption occurs. This is surprising as eating situations have long been recognized as both drivers of and barriers to food consumption and are key to understanding and changing dietary behavior. The term ‘eating situation’ describes the situation while eating, which comprises si...

Accurate models of pro-environmental behaviour can support environmental sustainability. Previous studies identifying the psychological predictors of pro-environmental behav- iour rarely accounted for environmental impact. We studied the greenhouse gas emissions of clothing purchasing across four countries. Clothing purchasing is responsible for 2–...

A Cohort Causal Graph (CCG) over the life-course from childhood to adolescence is estimated to identify potential causes of obesity and to determine promising targets for prevention strategies. We adapt a popular causal discovery algorithm to deal with missing values by multiple imputation and with temporal cohort structure. To estimate possible ca...

Accurate models of pro-environmental behavior can support environmental sustainability. Previous studies identifying the psychological predictors of pro-environmental behavior rarely accounted for environmental impact. We studied the greenhouse gas emissions of clothing purchasing across four countries and found that psychological factors like atti...

Because of the near doubling of clothing purchased and the shift toward fast fashion in recent decades, clothing induces increasingly significant global environmental impacts throughout its entire life cycle. To measure the environmental impacts of clothing across the major life cycle phases of production, purchase, transportation, usage, and dispo...

Objective: Research examining aspects of positive mental health as potential predictors of cardiometabolic health in young populations is scarce. We investigated the associations between psychosocial well-being and waist circumference (WAIST), blood pressure (BP), the homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance, triglycerides, and high-dens...

Limiting global warming to 2ºC or less relative to pre-industrial temperatures will require unprecedented rates of decarbonization globally. The scale and scope of transformational change required across sectors and actors in society raises critical questions of feasibility. Much of the literature on mitigation pathways addresses technological and...

This study analyzes which firms leave multi-stakeholder initiatives for corporate social responsibility. Based on an analysis of all active and delisted business participants from the United Nations Global Compact between 2000 and 2015 (n=15,853), we find that small and medium-sized enterprises are more likely to leave than larger and publicly-trad...

Background: Lifestyle interventions to prevent paediatric obesity often target family and peer settings; their success is likely to depend on the influence that peers and families exert on children's lifestyle behaviors at different developmental stages. Objective: First, to determine whether children's lifestyle behavior more closely resembles...

To assess whether smiley stamps work as a motivational incentive to promote fruit and vegetable eating among children, we conducted a field experiment in ten primary schools in five European countries using one control and one treatment school per country. The six-week experiment was split into three two-week phases before, during and after the smi...

Clothing production has high impacts on the environment, with a reduction in the consumption of clothes providing a contribution towards urgently needed sustainable production and consumption. The present study employs the comprehensive action determination model (CADM) to identify psychological determinants associated with reduced clothing consump...

Background: Improvements in child health are a key indicator of progress towards the third goal of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Poor nutritional outcomes of Indian children are occurring in the context of high economic growth rates. The aim of this paper is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the demographic and socio-econo...

Children's Rights and Sustainable Development - edited by Claire Fenton-Glynn April 2019

Although several studies provide evidence that trait self-control contributes to subjective well-being, the self-control strategies that promotes happiness and life satisfaction remains unknown. The present study aims to shed light on this relation by investigating the mediating role of four self-control strategies: situation selection, attentional...

The fashion industry is responsible for bringing some of the worst consumption practices out of individuals by reinforcing tendencies for overconsumption throughout society. Consuming too much has led to negative economic, societal, and environmental consequences. The purpose of this paper is to understand whether promoting a style orientation amon...

This study uses survey data from the I.Family Study to investigate the association between adolescent and peer overweight in a sample of adolescents aged 12–16 from six European countries. We find clear evidence of peer effects on body mass index, waist circumference, and body fat, which are stronger among adolescents at the upper end of overweight...

Research on associations of positive mental health, in contrast to mental ill‐health, with sleep duration and sleep disturbances in young populations is scarce. In particular, longitudinal studies focussing on the influence of positive mental health on sleep characteristics are lacking. Therefore, we investigated cross‐sectional and longitudinal as...

Today’s children are highly exposed to media and hence also to food advertising. Various strands of research suggest that exposure to advertising may contribute to childhood overweight. However, previous research has largely been deficient in identifying the causal impact of advertising on children’s food choices. To address this, a toolbox of inst...

Background/objectives: In high-income countries, childhood obesity follows a clear socioeconomic gradient with greater prevalence in children with lower socioeconomic status (SES). The extent to which the trend of other social vulnerabilities over time and the accumulation of these vulnerabilities can affect children's weight is still unknown. Su...

Background We investigated the association between the consumer attitudes of European parents and their children’s taste preferences and food choice. Furthermore, we studied whether the parental consumer attitudes were related to education level. Methods This analysis included 1,407 IDEFICS study children aged 6.0 to 11.8 years and from 7 European...

Full author list of IDEFICS consortium. (DOCX)

The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between business model innovation, corporate sustainability, and the underlying organisational values. Moreover, the paper examines how the three dimensions correlate with corporate financial performance. It is concluded that companies with innovative business models are more likely to addr...

It is generally assumed that if a sample represents its broader population on key demographic variables, the data it yields will also be representative. Here we present evidence to suggest that this is not necessarily so when subjective wellbeing is measured from participants recruited through online panels. Using data from six countries: Australia...

The effect of socioeconomic inequalities on children’s mental health remains unclear. This study aims to explore the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between social vulnerabilities and psychosocial problems, and the association between accumulation of vulnerabilities and psychosocial problems. 5987 children aged 2–9 years from eight Eu...

The aim of this study is to investigate whether in addition to established early risk factors other, less studied pre-, peri-, and postnatal influences, like gestational hypertension or neonatal respiratory disorders and infections, may increase a child’s risk of developing attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders (ADHD). In the IDEFICS study more...

Efforts to decrease the environmental impact of today's clothing industry across the entire process of production, purchase, maintenance, and disposal can be driven by either suppliers or consumers. Changing the behavior of the latter, however, requires an understanding of current clothing consumption patterns—a currently under-researched area. We...

This study uses data from the European Social Survey in order to test the Prinstein-Dodge hypothesis that posits that peer effects may be larger in collectivistic than in individualistic societies. When defining individualism and collectivism at the country level, our results show that peer effects on obesity are indeed larger in collectivistic tha...

Table S1 reports the descriptive statistics. Table S2 shows Individualism Score (IS) at the country level using Hofstede's classification and also the proportion of individualists and collectivists at the individual-level classification. Table S3 documents Schwartz's 10 human values for 21 individual value items in the European Social Survey. Table...

All over the world, nations are using “health nudges” to promote healthier food choices and to reduce the health care costs of obesity and non-communicable diseases. In some circles, the relevant reforms have controversial. On the basis of nationally representative online surveys, we examine whether Europeans favour such nudges. The simplest answer...

Socio-economic inequalities in childhood can determine dietary patterns, and therefore future health. This study aimed to explore associations between social vulnerabilities and dietary patterns assessed at two time points, and to investigate the association between accumulation of vulnerabilities and dietary patterns. A total of 9301 children aged...

Background The negative impact of childhood overweight on psychosocial well-being has been demonstrated in a number of studies. There is also evidence that psychosocial well-being may influence future overweight. We examined the bidirectional association between childhood overweight and psychosocial well-being in children from a large European coho...

Background: In highly developed countries, childhood overweight as well as many overweight-related risk factors are negatively associated with socioeconomic status (SES). Objective: To investigate the longitudinal association between parental SES and childhood overweight, and to clarify whether familial, psychosocial or behavioural factors can e...

Objective Children may influence household spending through ‘pester power’. The present study examined pestering through parent–child food shopping behaviours in relation to children’s diet and weight status. Design Cross-sectional and prospective analyses drawn from the IDEFICS study, a cohort study of parents and their children. Children’s heigh...

Introduction: From April 2008 to August 2010 the Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS (IDEFICS) intervention aimed to encourage healthier diets, higher physical activity levels and lower stress levels among European children and their families. While the intervention was intended to...

Background: The Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS (IDEFICS) study investigated the aetiology of childhood obesity and developed a primary prevention programme. Methods: Pre-intervention adherence to key behaviours related to childhood obesity, namely water/sweetened drink, frui...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution in subsidiary performance and the factors influencing this performance based on a unique database of approximately 800 multi-national company (MNC) subsidiaries in developing countries. Developed-country multi-national companies (MNCs) are increasingly establishing subsidiaries in dev...

This study proposes a self-identity based eco-friendly intention formation model to assess the effects of green self-identity, care for the environmental consequences of consumption, and green moral obligation, on the attitude toward and the intention to adopt electric cars. The model is empirically validated in three European countries: Denmark, B...

In the individual, obesity is a risk factor for numerous health problems, including hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems (asthma), musculoskeletal disease (arthritis), infertility and certain forms of cancer, including leukaemia, breast and colon cancer (OECD 2012). The tremendous increase in overwe...

In today's fashion system, dominated by business models predicated on continual consumption and globalized production systems that have major environmental and social impacts, the consumption of ‘sustainable fashion’ takes on an almost paradoxical quality. This paper explores this paradox by focusing on a previously under-researched group of consum...

Exploring changes in children's diet over time and the relationship between these changes and socio-economic status (SES) may help to understand the impact of social inequalities on dietary patterns. The aim of the present study was to describe dietary patterns by applying a cluster analysis to 9301 children participating in the baseline (2 –9 year...

In this chapter we propose a model in which green self-identity (GSI) is an antecedent of both environmental concern (EC) and moral obligation (MO), which in turn influence the attitude towards electric cars (ATT). GSI is also assumed to have a direct effect on ATT. The attitude towards the electric car then determines the intention to adopt it. Th...

Background/objectives: To address behaviours associated with childhood obesity, certain target values are recommended that should be met to improve children's health. In the IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health Effects in Children and infantS) study such lifestyle recommendations were conveyed as six key m...

Background: Various twin studies revealed that the influence of genetic factors on psychological diseases or behaviour is more expressed in socioeconomically advantaged environments. Other studies predominantly show an inverse association between socioeconomic status (SES) and childhood obesity in Western developed countries. The aim of this study...

The authors report on the development, implementation, and evaluation of a doctoral level intensive quantitative methods course featuring an integrated orientation to, and practicum in, statistics competence for qualitative researchers. A feature of this integrated approach is the inclusive point of course departure: the general empirical method of...

This paper analyses how large Danish companies are responding to new governmental regulation which requires them to report on corporate social responsibility (CSR). The paper is based on an analysis of 142 company annual reports required by the new Danish regulation regarding CSR reporting, plus 10 interviews with first‐time reporting companies and...

The substantial increase in female employment rates in Europe over the past two decades has often been linked in political and public rhetoric to negative effects on child development, including obesity. We analyse this association between maternal employment and childhood obesity using rich objective reports of various anthropometric and other mea...

Using survey responses from 400 fashion companies in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland, we examine the diversity of strategic responses to institutional pressures for corporate social responsibility (CSR) within the Nordic fashion industry. We also develop and test a new model of strategic responses to institutional pressures that encom...

To understand the rising prevalence of childhood obesity in affluent societies, it is necessary to take into account the growing obesity infrastructure, which over past decades has developed into an obesogenic environment. This study examines the effects of one of the constituent factors of consumer societies and a potential contributory factor to...

Food-based dietary guidelines (FBDG) aim to address the nutritional requirements at population level in order to prevent diseases and promote a healthy lifestyle. Diet quality indices can be used to assess the compliance with these FBDG. The present study aimed to investigate whether the newly developed Diet Quality Index for Adolescents (DQI-A) is...

Early television exposure has been associated with various health outcomes including childhood obesity. This paper describes associations between patterns of television viewing, on one hand, and diet, taste preference and weight status, on the other, in European preschoolers and schoolchildren. The IDEFICS baseline survey was conducted at examinati...

To assess the association between different macro- and micro-level socioeconomic factors and childhood overweight. Data from the IDEFICS baseline survey is used to investigate the cross-sectional association between socioeconomic factors, like socioeconomic status (SES), and the prevalence of childhood overweight. Differences and similarities regar...

To evaluate parental perceptions of and concern about child's body weight and general health in children in a European cohort. Cross-sectional multi-centre study in eight European countries. 16 220 children, ages 2–9 years. Parents completed a questionnaire regarding children's health and weight and concern about overweight and underweight. Objecti...

The aim of this report was to present methodological aspects of assessing the effects of advertising on children's food choices and preferences. Two instruments have been used: first, a choice experiment on children's food knowledge and preferences, and second, a questionnaire on children's knowledge about and attitudes towards advertising. The cho...

The Danish fat tax is a structural policy-instrument that aims to enhance healthy lifestyles and decrease negative impacts on climate and environment. The tax has been designed to make healthier choices the easy choice and to help consumers to comply with the recommended nutritional guidelines regarding amounts of fat. If implemented in Denmark,...

Within the last 30 years, a remarkable weight gain could be observed in nearly all developed countries independent of sex, age, and social class. Thus, this epidemic affects not only one single social stratum or one specific group of consumers, but rather whole populations. Nowadays, more than 30% of all European children are overweight or obese –...

In Diskussionen über gesunde Lebensstile wird immer wieder gefordert, die Verbraucher müssten schon frühzeitig besser aufgeklärt und umfänglich über Ernährung informiert werden. Es müsse ein „Wandel in den Köpfen der Konsumenten“ – weg vom billigen, fetten, zuckerhaltigen, ungesunden Essen hin zu einer ernährungsphysiologisch wertvollen, gesunden E...

Der vorliegende Beitrag bietet eine Übersicht über die wichtigsten Faktoren, die zur Entstehung von Kindheitsadipositas beitragen. Da übergewichtige Kinder auch häufig zu eben solchen Erwachsenen werden – mit den bekannten negativen psychologischen, sozialen und ökonomischen Konsequenzen –, suchen Wissenschaft und Politik intensiv nach effektiven P...

The goal of this article is to provide an overview of internal and external factors influencing childhood obesity. Overweight and obese children are more likely to become overweight and obese adults with the well-known negative psychological, social, and economic consequences. Politics and research are searching for efficient prevention and interve...

This study evaluates couples’ time use behaviour with regard to housework in Germany with data from the 2001/2002 and 1991/1992 German Time Use Survey. Despite the fact that women reduced their hours worked within the household context over the past decades, the unequal division of housework between men and women still persists. This study aims bot...