Childhood experience of being forced to eat: focussing on its association with vegetable consumption among young adults

PurposeThis study aimed to explore the association of childhood experience of being forced to eat – where a particular person forced a child to eat a specific food item against one's will – on food consumption, especially vegetables later in young adulthood.Design/methodology/approachAn online questionnaire survey was conducted from 19 to 24 February 2020 with 1,277 young Korean adults in their 20s. A total of 1,226 eligible responses were obtained, wherein 410 (33.4%) responses with forced-eating experiences in childhood were collected. To answer the survey questionnaire, the respondents were asked to recall one of the most memorable forced-eating episodes.FindingsThe results showed that forced-eating occurred mostly among lower grades or pre-schoolers, at home or in schools/childcare facilities, and by parents or homeroom teachers. Vegetables were the most common target food for forced-eating. The Forced-Eating-Experienced group with vegetables as the target food tended to have significantly lower preference for and acceptance of vegetables. Furthermore, among this group, those who had displayed unpleasant post-ingestion physical symptoms after forced-eating or refused to eat the target vegetables at all despite forced-eating, showed significantly lower acceptance of vegetables. Additionally, they were also less likely to eat the target vegetable at present, but more likely to agree that their current dietary habits were affected by their childhood experiences of forced-eating.Originality/valueThe study attempted to fill the knowledge gap on the association of negative childhood experiences of forced-eating with food consumption, especially vegetables, later in young adulthood.