Gender Differences in Attitudes to Vegans/Vegetarians and Their Food Preferences, and Their Implications for Promoting Sustainable Dietary Patterns–A Systematic Review

Klaudia Modlinska, Dominika Adamczyk, Dominika Maison and Wojciech Pisula
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Klaudia Modlinska: Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 1 Jaracza St., 00-378 Warsaw, Poland
Dominika Adamczyk: Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, 5/6 Stawki St., 00-183 Warsaw, Poland
Dominika Maison: Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, 5/6 Stawki St., 00-183 Warsaw, Poland
Wojciech Pisula: Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 1 Jaracza St., 00-378 Warsaw, Poland

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 16, 1-17

Abstract: Limiting meat consumption has recently become one of the key issues linked to public health and environmental sustainability. This is reflected in the strong emphasis on increasing promotion of plant-based nutritional styles, such as vegan and vegetarian diets. Vegan/vegetarian diets appeal to certain demographic groups more than to others. The most striking difference, however, is found between the sexes. Men and women differ in their preferences for plant products and in their attitudes to meat consumption. There are also differences between their motivations to start and/or follow a vegan/vegetarian diet. Major differences have also been observed in men’s and women’s attitudes towards people following plant-based diets. Vegetarian diets are generally considered to be less masculine than meat-based diets, and omnivores exhibit more prejudice against vegetarian men than women. This study follows the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) systematic literature review model. The Web of Science and PubMed databases were searched (up to January 2020) to identify studies, which analysed variables directly or indirectly related to inter-sex differences with regard to the vegan/vegetarian diet. After the screening process based on the relevance and quality criteria, 29 articles were included in the study. The purpose of this review is to raise awareness of these gender differences, not only as regards social perceptions, but also in terms of individual attitudes to vegetarian/vegan diets. Ignoring those differences hinders the promotion of plant-based diets and may explain the relatively meager success of previous efforts to promote sustainable nutritional styles.

Keywords: vegan diet; vegetarian diet; gender differences; stereotypes; masculinity; diet change; healthy and sustainable dietary patterns; public health impact of dietary change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:16:p:6292-:d:394587

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