Determining motives of mothers who purchase healthy snacks for their children: a phenomenological study

Abstract

Children mostly prefer eating snacks rather than eating healthier ones, although their mothers try to prevent them from wrong nutrition habits. Nowadays, depending on the consumption patterns of people obesity, overweight problems, and lots of illnesses start to occur at younger ages. In today’s competitive marketplace, a few of the companies are trying to understand what the motivational factors are and how mothers decide to purchase healthy snacks for their children. For this research, the phenomenological interviews were completed with 20 mothers by snowball sampling. Open ended questions were asked to identify their profiles, thoughts and behaviors. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to interview with conscious mothers who purchase functional and healthier snacks for their children.The results showed similarity to the results in the previous studies: educated and highincome level people are more precisely keen on healthier snack eating habits for their family members. They pay attention to the importance of the nutrition a lot especially after they become mothers