Variables Affecting Secondary School Students’ Willingness to Eat Genetically Modified Food Crops

Abstract

A large-scale cross-sectional study (N = 4002) was set up to determine Flemish secondary school students' willingness to eat genetically modified food (WTE) and to link students' WTE to previously identified key variables from research on the acceptance of genetic modification (GM). These variables include subjective and objective knowledge about genetics and biotechnology, perceived risks and benefits of GM food crops, trust in information from different sources about GM, and food neophobia. Differences between WTE-related variables based on students' grade level, educational track, and gender were analyzed. The students displayed a rather indecisive position toward GM food and scored weakly on a genetics and biotechnology knowledge test. WTE correlated most strongly with perceived benefits and subjective and objective knowledge. The results have clear implications for education, as they reiterate the need to strengthen students' scientific knowledge base and to introduce a GM-related debate at a much earlier stage in their school career.

Exploring Factors Affecting the Acceptance of Genetically Edited Food Among Youth in Japan

“…The study results have shown strong correlations between the willingness to eat GMO food and the subjective knowledge as well as the objective knowledge. The results of the study have confirmed the need for supporting the knowledge base of the students with more education about biotechnology and GMO related topics in the early-stage [27]. Another study focused on millennial attitudes towards genetically modified food in the United States; it showed that respondents with a high level of education and knowledge about biotechnology had a higher level of willingness to purchase genetically modified food products.…”

Examining Personal and Media Factors Associated with Attitude towards Genetically Modified Foods among University Students in Kunming, China

“…“Factual knowledge” refers to concrete information and facts stored in an individual’s schema [43]. Other studies often label factual knowledge as objective knowledge (e.g., [7,15]). Such knowledge is often assessed by asking respondents to answer a series of true or false questions and computing the number of correct answers [42,44].…”

“…To date, the level of factual knowledge that consumers have on GMF in China is unclear. However, scholars suggest that factual knowledge of biotechnology and GMF is quite low in the US [40] and Belgium [7].…”

“…Scholars have noted that such debates have placed GMF on negative media limelight, and this contributes to the public’s negative attitude towards GMF [5,6]. Thus, improving consumers’ attitude towards GMF and encouraging GMF purchase and consumption decisions in the long term have become major challenges for the authorities [7]. For this reason, the role of media in the formation of attitude towards GMF must be investigated.…”

“…Currently, several research gaps must be addressed regarding the role of media in the formation of attitude towards GMF. First, most published studies are from Western countries (e.g., [7,11,12]). Second, few studies in China have used theories to examine factors associated with public perceptions of GMF (e.g., [13,14,15]).…”