Pick a better snack™, a multicomponent social marketing intervention to promote fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption, develops children’s ability to ask their parents for F&V. This study’s purpose was to understand this “pester power” from the child’s perspective. Pester power is leveraging children’s ability to convince their parents to purchase items in the store that they normally would not have considered buying. Focus groups were conducted with third-grade program participants (n = 30) and involved a traditional discussion format, a drawing activity, and role-playing. Most of the communication participants described involved straightforward requests, although a few children described behaviors such as whining. Most reported their parents responded affirmatively to requests, and some described a positive emotional response from parents. Parent denials were typically related to concerns about cost or the child not eating the item after purchase. Findings pointed to high self-efficacy and response efficacy among these children, although role-playing of effective asking strategies and addressing reasons why parents deny requests could enhance the program. Social marketing efforts including children should consider how pester power may play a role in moving adult behavior.

中文翻译：

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Pester Power：从孩子的角度理解亲子间关于低收入家庭水果和蔬菜的交流

选择更好的点心™是一种多层面的社会营销干预措施，旨在促进水果和蔬菜（F＆V）的消费，从而提高孩子们向父母要求F＆V的能力。这项研究的目的是从孩子的角度理解这种“ pester power”。Pester的力量是在利用孩子说服父母在商店里购买通常不会考虑购买的商品的能力。焦点小组由三年级计划参与者（n = 30）进行，涉及传统的讨论形式，绘画活动和角色扮演。描述的大多数交流参与者都涉及直接的请求，尽管一些孩子描述了诸如抱怨之类的行为。大多数报告称其父母对要求表示肯定，有些人描述了父母的积极情绪反应。家长的否认通常与对成本的担心或孩子购买后不吃东西有关。研究结果表明，这些孩子具有较高的自我效能感和反应能力，尽管有效询问策略的作用和解决父母拒绝请求的理由可以增强该计划。包括儿童在内的社会营销工作应考虑，使害虫的力量如何在改变成人行为中发挥作用。