Decision-making processes of children in the context of sustainable diets

Peer-reviewed / Manuscript (original contribution) received: July 31, 2018 / Revision accepted: February 07, 2019

Part 2: The role of values in decision-making processes

Introduction

The guiding principle of sustainable development (SD) is inextricably linked to a global concept of ethics, especially since the 1992 Rio conference [44]. The current aims of the 2030 Agenda also imply moral goals such as global adherence to justice and equality [45]. In connection with sustainable diets, at the start of 2019, there was an intense public discussion about the introduction of an “animal welfare label”. This label would allow consumers to identify how animals had been raised and therefore allow them to make their purchases while taking animal welfare and the related moral aspects into account [46].

However, a sustainable diet also implies various other values, and raises ethical and moral questions such as the extent to which we must take responsibility for the consequences that our current way of eating may have for people in developing countries or for subsequent generations [27-49].

Hedonistic values, and especially enjoyment of eating, of course play a key role for consumers [48]. It therefore follows that decisions in the context of sustainable diets are influenced by values, and that any concept of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) that aims to build decision- making skills in the context of nutrition also needs to consider how learners can be familiarized with moral questions and values in class [50].

Abstract

Decisions in the context of sustainable diets are often associated with moral factors. The investigations carried out in the explorative research project presented in this article included the role that the value orientations and values play in the decisions of children (11–12 years old). Based on individual interviews about a realistic decision-making situation (using the thinking aloud method, n = 27), it was found that the previously recorded value orientations of the children did not affect the sequence or quality of their decision-making steps, but drawing on their values, particularly hedonism and universalism with a focus on ecology, played a major role in the processes. Here, knowledge is used in a supporting capacity and is also used once a certain level of expertise has been developed. In terms of lessons, what this means is that we need to design learning-teaching arrangements that make clear how diverse people’s values can be with regard to sustainable development and we need to encourage the combining of knowledge with values.

Keywords: sustainable diet, decision-making skills, values, children and adolescents, sustainable development, nutrition education

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