Journal of Health Psychology

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Click here to register today!

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lindeman, M.
Right arrow Articles by Roschier, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Lindeman, M.
Right arrow Articles by Roschier, M.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
Journal of Health Psychology, Vol. 5, No. 2, 195-209 (2000)
© 2000 SAGE Publications

Assessment of Magical Beliefs about Food and Health

Marjaana Lindeman

University of Helsinki, Finland

Pertti Keskivaara

University of Helsinki, Finland

Maarit Roschier

University of Helsinki, Finland

The Magical Beliefs About Food and Health scale (MFH) was developed to assess individual differences in the tendency to adopt eating and health instructions that many magazines, health care books and food ideologies regard as valid but which obey universal laws of similarity and contagion. In a study of 216 individuals, the total MFH score showed good internal consistency and it was associated with various validity criteria as hypothesized (e.g. vegetarianism and other ideological commitments to food choice, female gender, increased neuroticism, experiential thinking, positive attitudes towards alternative medicine, low sensation seeking and endorsement of universalism values). Factor analysis yielded two factors: General Magical Beliefs and Animal Products as Food Contaminants. In addition, three other items (the Animal Products as Personality Contaminants scale) cross-loaded on the two factors. The factor structure and test–retest reliability were confirmed with separate samples. The results showed that the total MFH score is a reliable and valid measure of magical food and health beliefs, and that the subscales may prove useful when a multidimensional assessment of magical beliefs is needed.

Key Words: food • health • magical thinking


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Culture PsychologyHome page
M. Adams
Whatever Will Be, Will Be: Trust, Fate and the Reflexive Self
Culture Psychology, December 1, 2004; 10(4): 387 - 408.
[Abstract] [PDF]