Subjective socio-psychological well-being of a person as a factor in the choice of food products

Introduction. Food preferences of people are largely determined by genetic predisposition, However, from the moment of birth, they tend to change depending on the influence of the social environment, personal experience and significant personalities.

The purpose of the work is to reveal the influence of subjective socio-psychological well-being on the formation of food preferences through an assessment of its relationship with external factors determining the choice of a particular product.

Materials and methods. The following methods were used in the study: the «Eating Behaviour Assessment Scale» method, the Psychological Well-Being Scale” method, “Subjective Economic Well-Being Questionnaire”, methodology for diagnosing the level of self-esteem, authors’ questionnaire. The statistical software SPSS 22.0 was used to process the data. The study surveyed 22 to 60 years 250 peoples. Consent to participate in the study was obtained from each subject.

Results. The main components of the concept of “subjective socio-psychological well-being of consumers” are determined, their interrelations with various factors of external marketing influences on buyers are revealed. The subjective factors mediating eating behaviour, reflected in the concept under consideration, largely determine the effectiveness of the influence on the individual of various external marketing influences when buying food.

Limitations. The sample of the study, despite the rather large volume, was not representative enough and included only residents of Moscow and the Moscow region, which does not give the right to use the results obtained outside the region with confidence.

Conclusion. The higher the level of subjective socio-psychological well-being, the more expensive goods people prefer. At a low level, the greatest attention when choosing is given to information about the quality of the product on the label. The effect of advertising and brand on food choice in both high and low individuals is extremely small.

Compliance with ethical standards. The study was approved by the local ethics committee of the Moscow State University of Technology and Management named after K.G. Razumovsky (protocol No. 4 of December 25, 2023). Written voluntary consent was obtained from all participants.

Contribution of the authors:
Kovaleva M.A. — concept and design of research, collection and processing of material;
Shmeleva S.V. — concept and design of the study, compilation of a list of references;
Feoktistova S.V. — concept and design of the study, compilation of a list of references;
Marinova T.Yu. — text writing, editing;
Dubrovinskaya E.I. — text writing, editing;
Yulina G.N. — writing a text, compiling a list of references;
Maskaeva T.Yu. — writing a text, compiling a list of references;
Rybakova A.I. — concept and design of research, collection and processing of material.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the final version of the manuscript.

Acknowledgement. The study was performed without external funding.

Conflict of interests. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

 Received: March 29, 2022 / Accepted: May 12, 2022 / Published: February 26, 2024