Effect of food-related lifestyle on beverage selection attributes of adolescents

Adolescent food choices and consumption have a significant impact on post-adult life, and adolescents have a higher preference for carbonated drinks than other age groups. The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavior of beverage consumption according to the food-related lifestyle among adolescents. Generally, adolescents tended to focus on ‘sense’ and ‘promotion’ regardless of the cluster, indicating that adolescents were sensitive to sensory stimuli, especially taste. Further, adolescents were sensitive to price, as they received allowances from their caregivers to buy drinks. In addition, the popularity-seeking group (PG) tended to focus ‘sense’ as compared to other groups, and the high involvement for food life group (HG) tended to focus all factors generally. The economy-seeking group (EG) tended to focus the ‘promotion’ compared to the other groups, and the low involvement for food life group (LG) did not focus on all factors generally. The PG and LG preferred carbonated beverages the most, whereas the HG and EG preferred milk and dairy products the most. The PG tended to be sensitive to the activities of social media, and they placed great importance on their peer group. Therefore, it is necessary for schools to maintain a healthy diet through continuous nutrition education. In addition, it is expected that intensive education will be needed to raise interest in correct food selection since the factors that are considered to be important in the selection of beverages are not clearly located in the LG.