xt7wh707z566 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7wh707z566/data/mets.xml   Agricultural Experiment Station, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kentucky 1970 journals kaes_research_rprts_05 English University of Kentucky Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station Research Report 5 : May 1970 text Research Report 5 : May 1970 1970 2014 true xt7wh707z566 section xt7wh707z566 ,   Educational Posters V
And Their Effect on Teenagers'
X Attitudes Toward Milk
; John B. Roberts
  •
A RESEARCH REPORT 5 : May l970
T University of Kentucky :: Agricultural Experiment Station
Department of Agricultural Economics
Lexington

 J x
x * a
’

 PREFACE
This is one of several reports contributing to the Southern Regional
Food Marketing Project SM-13 (2R), "Consumer Responses to Food
Promotions and Education Programs." The study explores the impact of l
selected educational posters on students’ attitudes toward milk drinking, on
their knowledge of the nutritive value of milk and on their consumption of
milk and dairy products. The analysis combines the data from the ninth and
tenth grade students in four Kentucky high schools.
The author is grateful to the students, teachers and principals of the
high schools who cooperated. Acknowledgment is also extended to Mrs.
Mildred R. Wightman, Home Economics Extension Specialists, Rowan
county, tutd formerly Assistant Professor of Home Economics; and to Harold
C. Young, formerly Assistant in Agricultural Economics, University of
Kentucky. They were largely responsible for the conduct and early phases of
the research, and for the data collection and preparation.
The findings will be of interest to parents, teachers, public officials and
others concerned with communication techniques for improving nutrition
and balanced diets and will be of special interest to the dairy industry and its
concern with the teenage markets.
ii

 CONTENTS ’
Page
PREFACE ...................................... ii
LIST OF TABLES .................................. -iv
PURPOSE ...................................... I ·
SCOPE AND I\1E'I`I1()D ................................ 2
Testing Methods
Scoring Method
Choice ol` Posters Displayed
Poster Locations
The Evaluation Panel Function
TIIE TEENAGE PANEL EVALUATIONS ...................... 5
Panel Appraisals
Where the Teenage Interests Lie
RESPONSES OF THE NINTH AND TENTH GRADE STUDENTS ......... 8
Beverage Choices
Use Patterns
Changes in Consumption
Dairy Product Consumption
Milk and Dairy Foods Considered Not Fattening
OTHER FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMPTION ................ I3
Knowledge of Milk Nutrition
Attitudes, Knowledge and S0cio—Economic Factors
SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE MILK BEVERAGES ....,......... I7 ’
Mixcd—Company Situations
Other Situations Projected
Boys and Girls Agree on Beverage Choices
SUMMARY EVALUATION ............................ 19
LITERATURE CITED ............................... 22 y
APPENDIX ..................................... 23
iii

 LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
l. Evaluations ol` Poster Groups by Members of Marketing,
Business and Distributive Education Classes .................... 7
2. Responses—— Have You Seen or Heard Anything at School
to lnliluence Your Choice ol` Drinks ........................ 8 `
3. Milk and Beverage Choices lor Meals and Snacks by 334 Boys
and 326 Girls in the Ninth and Tenth Grades Who Had
Seen the Poster ................................... 9
—l. Percent by Which the Users ol` the Beverages by the Students Who
llad Seen Posters Dil`l`ered From Those Who Had Not .............. 10
5. Average Amounts ol` Milk and Other Beverages Drunk Daily
and Percentage ol` Users ............................. 11
6. Poster Experiment--Dairy Products ......................... 12
7. Responses ol Teenagers About Foods They Think Fattening ............ 13
8. Expressed Need lor Milk Now .·\s Compared to Needs Before
Entering High School .............................. 14
9. Knowledge ol` Component Values of Milk and Cottage Cheese ........... 15
10. Relationship Between the Number ol` Glasses of Milk and the
Attitude, Knowledge and Socio»Economic Scores ................ 16
ll. Teenagers Acceptance ol` Milk·Responses to Projected
Social and Snack Situations ........................... 18
iv

 EDUCATIONAL POSTERS AND THEIR EFFECT ON TEENAGERS’
ATTITUDES TOWARD MILK
by
_]ohn B. Robertsl '
Good nutrition and balanced diets are and homeroom environment had: (1) directly
especially important to teenagers because of influenced the beverage choices of the
their accelerated growth and high energy students; (2) made exposed students more
requirements. Teachers, parents, public health knowledgeable about food values and
officials and others who work with this age nutritional needs; and (3) created an
group are especially aware ofthe nutritional awareness of the part played by milk and
problems that many teenagers themselves dairy products in health and well·being. The
seem to ignore and neglect. Studies have posters had also been a small but positive
shown that many teenagers, especially girls, force in creating favorable attitudes toward
do not consume the foods needed for dairy products and in increasing consumption
optimum growth and development. For [1].3 As a result of these findings from an
many, the diets are low in calcium and experiment done under controlled conditions,
riboflavin, a nutrient deficiency that could be the question was raised as to whether similar
eliminated by using the recommended results could be expected from posters used
amounts of milk. Accordingly, this study was under less restrictive conditions. Accordingly,
undertaken to determine effective methods of a "follow-up—experiment" was initiated.
encouraging youths to choose milk and other Arrangements were made to display
dairy products for between—meal snacks and educational posters intermittently in the
to drink milk with meals. A selected group of hallways and corridors of four high schools
educational posters, primarily focused on during an entire school year and to test the
good nutrition, was chosen for this purpose.2 ninth and tenth grade students at the end of
the year.
In a previous study, it was found that a
short run exposure of ninth and tenth grade PURPOSE
students to educational posters in their school
?___ _ _ _ The primary purpose of this study was
Professor of Agricultural Economics, Department of _
AgT,cu1mm1ECOn0miCS_ to explore further the educational value of
i the poster technique. It was hypothesized I
2Special appreciation is expressed to the National ____;,.
Dairy Council for supplying the posters. Most of the
research was done as a contribution to the Southem 3Numerals within brackets refer to publications in ,
Regional Food Marketing Research Project SM·13. "Literature Cited."
1

 2 .
that a series of educational posters displayed took part. The design of the experiment was
outside the classrooms would have a simple; i.e., the posters chosen were put up
measurable impact, i.e., that the students where they could be seen, there were no
would remember the displays, know what announcements, no special headings, and no
they were about and respond in various ways effort on the part of the experimenters to
to the information and messages contained. lt relate the posters to teaching or to call
was also believed that there would be attention to their contents. The teachers in `
differences in the attitude, knowledge and use the schools were asked to tell curious students
pattern between the exposed and unexposed that the posters were a part of an experiment
students from the same universe. ln testing in advertising and education. Neither the
this hypothesis, a questionnaire identical to teachers nor the students were told about the
that used in the previous controlled plans for testing. Thus each student could
experiment was used. observe or ignore the displays as he saw fit.
Besides the information secured from
the questionnaires, a panel of teenagers was Testing Methods
set up to evaluate further the posters. This
panel was made up of students enrolled in Significantly, the high schools
marketing, business, and/or distributive cooperating in this study were the same ones
education classes. The purpose of the panel used in the controlled experiment the
was to provide the investigators with previous year [1] . ln this research the entire
information about how high school students student body was exposed, but the
might feel about the posters selected and questionnaire was answered only by the
displayed. Each panel member was asked to students in the ninth and tenth grade classes.
rate posters according to his opinion about: Thus, a sub—sample of the previous yea.r’s
(1) the degree to which each would interest universe was examined. Near the end of the V
other high school students, his peers; (2) the school year and without advanced notive
percentage of students who would notice each these students were tested by the same
set of posters used; (3) the extent to which techniques and format of the previous year’s
the headings and contents would be read; and study .4 The purpose was not to measure the
(4) how he would personally rate the displays impact of any particular poster but rather to
for clarity and appropriateness for the test the poster technique and determine
purposes as defined by the investigators. lt whether collectively there was evidence that
was hypothesized that these opinions of the posters had any impact and, if so, what?
teenagers themselves would provide help in
understanding of the teenagers point of view To minimize variability in responses, a
and thus further the objectives of the highly structured questionnaire that had a
research. .....—.—.-.-
4Analysis of the responses showed that 11.2 percent
of the 660 students involved in the 1966 experiment ’
recalled they had taken similar tests the previous
SCOPE AND METHOD year. Any bias growing out of the previous year
experiences was unknown. For a few students the
Four K¢¤h¤<¤hv high Sshvhh Whh =¤¤ l$iZ(iit,yi,iitsriipiiic1iZi¤;i;lg.h;`;ii§i? Eggigaivig
enrollment of approximately 2,500 students carryover would be relatively small.

 3
minimum of open-end questions was used. milk consumption and food habits. To get i
Also, each student completed the balloon some measure of the income and social status,
captions in projective type drawings that a special index was constructed. The method
involved teenagers in six different beverage of Calhoun [2], which considers the prestige
choice situations designed to explore for rank of the father’s occupation and the
attitudes about the acceptance of milk educational levels of both parents, was used in
drinking under the conditions shown. ln combination with the North-Hatt Scale for
making the final analysis, each individual was assigning a rank to the father’s occupation `
given a score designed to measure attitude,   This socio-economic score tended to
knowledge, family status and consumption combine education, occupation and related
levels. For this purpose, responses to selected income in a single scale. The possible ranges
questions were weighted and combined intoa under this scoring system were from 1
single figure that could be used for through 30. The distribution of these scores
comparisons. was such that a score of 7 or less resulted in
placing that individual in a low grouping.
Scores from 8 through 16 were the middle
Scoring Method groupings and those with scores of 17 through
30 were considered to have a high level of
Attitude scores were determined by income or status. Consumption scores were
weighting responses to questions about the made up by weighting the number of glasses
student’s choice of beverages for meals and of milk drunk and the number of times ice
snacks, the projected use of beverages for cream, yellow cheese and cottage cheese had
social occasions, and the beliefs about been used for a daytime or bedtime snack.
whether milk was fattening. The possible Consumption scores ranged between 1 and
range of scores was from 1 through 22. An 22. Scores below 7 were considered to be low,
individual score below 9 was considered low, 8 through 11 medium and 12 and over placed
from 10 through 13 medium, and a score the student in the high consumption
above 14 was considered to be a high one. grouping.
The knowledge scores were based on the
answers to questions about nutrients in milk, Choice of Posters Displayed
nutrition and teenage needs and their
knowledge about the four food groups as For the purpose of this experiment, five
related to milk and nutrition. The range for sets of posters were displayed during the
individual knowledge scores was from 1 school year. A poster picturing the four basic
through 17. Scores below 9 were considered food groups was placed in the center along
to be low, those from 10 through 13 medium, with other posters chosen to cover a diversity
and scores above 14 were considered to be the of youth interests. All had a central thought
highest level. related to health and good nutrition and, yet,
the visual components were quite different in
Students were not asked about their subject and composition. Accordingly, each A
family incomes nor were they asked anything student was forced to identify the
about what they conceived their social status relationships to himself and/or make whatever
to be. Both factors are known to influence sense he wanted to from the individual and

 4
group collectively.5 To give some continuity, Group V. Physical Fitness and Sports
the display schedules were timed so that they (displayed in April).
would relate to seasonal school activities and a. Four Food Groups
events. The posters were allowed to stay in b. Eat Well—Soft Ball
place no fewer than 10 and no more than 14 c. Looking for the Right Weight
school days. Twelve different posters were
used and the aggregated viewing time was 54 It should be noted that the poster "A
days, an equivalent of about one day out of Guide to Good Eating," which describes the V
every three during the school term. "Four Basic Food Groups," was shown in
October and again in March. A similar but
The grouping and the month during somewhat simplified poster, "Four Food
i which the groups were on display are Groups," was displayed in November and
summarized as follows: (Also see Appendix repeated in April. The purpose of these
A.) repetitions was to provide a common thread
' of reference and to place emphasis on good
Group 1. Balanced Meal and Good .\'utrz`tz`on nutrition.
(displayed in October).
a. A Guide to Good Eating
b. Make Lunch Count Poster Locations
c. Three Cheers for a Big Smile
The construction, classroom locations,
Group II. Personality and Hou.- You Loo/c and hallway arrangements in the four
(displayed in November). cooperating high schools tended to channel
a. Four Food Groups students into different parts of the building.
b. How Do You Look, Horrible There was no universal center of activity.
Habits Therefore, to insure a complete coverage in
c. How Do Others See You each school, five sets were used. The locations
chosen were at some prominent place: (1) in
Group III. Mill; and Growth (displayed in the cafeteria, (2) in the gymnasium, (3) above
February). the main bulletin board, (4) in the corridor or
a. Food Value of a Quart of Milk lobby near the main door enrance and (5) in
b. Milk Made the Difference one other well lighted location such as in the
hallway and at the end of a passage way. The
Group Ilia'. Importance of a Good Breakfast primary purpose of the multiple locations was
(displayed in March). to insure that every student in the schools
a. Guide to Good Eating would have an opportunity to see and
b. Ready for Breakfast possibly study the posters’ contents. The
c. B reak fast l\l i gh t H ave multiple locations also provided repetition of
Helped—lts Time for a l\lilk exposure for many.
Break .
5The themes were not made known to the students. The Evaiuation Panel Fuuctivn
The individual posters were selected from the
National Dairy Council educational materials. . .
Reproductions of the posters used for each group Students enrolled in ¤¤¤rk¤¤¤s andlor
display are shown in Appendix A. business and distributive education classes

 5
· were asked to help the investigators in opposite value terminals. Before going into
assessing the merits of the poster project. other analyses, the results of summarized
Class members were told about the study information from the teenage evaluation
being undertaken and asked to cooperate in panel will be reviewed.
making certain evaluations. They were assured
that in making the evaluations they were not
to be graded in any way.6 THE TEENAGE PANEL EVALUATIONS .
Each member of the evaluation panel Through special arrangements with the
was asked to give his own personal opinion cooperating schools, no restrictions were
about how other high school students would placed OH where the posters could be put UP·
mtg Cach Sq; gf Pogtcrg thmughouh Would Accordingly, the investigators decided on five
students be interested or resentful? What Pl2i€€$ lll €Z1€h school OU the? b21SlS of what
would be the best location for conveying the they thought would best serve the purposes of
message? What would beits relative ability for the experirnent.7 All of the locations were
attracting attention and communicate? They €0¤$ld€Y<5 204 155 242 75 102 184 163
lll. M111r11m1<;mw111 265 335 ss' 951 204 223 115 155 65 95 195 184
1V. Importance of 7 _ O 7 _ G 1
Good Breakfast 324 4S' 497 71" l 2-l" 421 2-11 261 161 IO`) 11* 9
I
V. Sports,Pl1ysical 9 O l __ 7 4 7 _ 1 _
Fitness 37" 373 64* 693 331 17" 15‘ 17 12* 8*7 9 20D
Grouped Average 37 41 54 61 23 27 16 21 9 10
Note: Superscripts indicate ranking sequence.
(lowest total score) for the boys and girls 3_ 11 Personality--HOw\'Ou Lggk
separately were as follows: .t_ [I] Milk and Growth
5. Y _Sports and Physical Fitness
Boys
All sets of charts contained technical
I- V SPOYYS 21¤d Pl1§'Si€&ll Fitness information along with other ideas. In every
2· IV Importance of Good BY€iil