Young flexitarians : an insight into barriers and facilitators related to capability, opportunity, and motivation for meat reduction

Vezovnik, Andreja (author), Kamin, Tanja (author)

In recent decades, meat consumption has faced growing scrutiny from an environmental, health, and animal welfare perspective. As a result, reducing meat consumption has emerged as an important strategy to mitigate its negative effects. Flexitarians, a growing group of meat reducers, have attracted attention for potentially shaping future dietary trends. This study uses a qualitative approach and draws on 15 in-depth interviews with young flexitarians in Slovenia (YFS) to identify the main facilitators and barriers to meat reduction by exploring their motivations, capabilities, and opportunities as described in the COM-B behavioral model. This study fills the gap in studies on flexitarians using the COM-B model by looking at capabilities and opportunities, not solely motives. In addition, it fills the gap in qualitative in-depth studies on all three COM-B categories, as well as a gap in studies conducted outside northwest Europe and other primarily western geographical contexts. This study highlights important findings for the central and eastern European context that industry and governments should consider when developing behavior change strategies for healthy, sustainable diets. This study shows that strong rural family ties and limited access to meat alternatives are the major barriers to meat reduction in Slovenia. The YFS preferred whole, unprocessed foods (legumes, vegetables, grains) over processed meat alternatives and reduced their meat consumption primarily for health and environmental reasons, relying on social support from peers and information from popular documentaries and social media influencers.

• Language: English
• Keywords: flexitarians, meat reduction, environment, health, capability, opportunity, motivation, barriers, facilitators
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2024
• Number of pages: 20 str.
• Numbering: Vol. 16, issue 20, [article no.] 9027
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-165029
• UDC: 613.261(497.4)
• ISSN on article: 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su16209027
• COBISS.SI-ID: 215027203
• Publication date in RUL: 21.11.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Sustainability
• Shortened title: Sustainability
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2071-1050
• COBISS.SI-ID: 5324897

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: meso, prehrana (fiziologija), trajnost (ekologija), mladi odrasli, Slovenija

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P5-0183
• Name: Socialna psihologija in sociologija vsakdanjega življenja