How do affective health-related and cognitive determinants influence fish consumption? A consumer survey in five European countries

This paper focuses on exploring whether and to what extent affective health-related and cognitive determinants have an impact on fish consumption behaviour. Cross-sectional data were collected through the SEAFOODplus pan-European consumer survey (n=4,786) with samples representative for age and region in Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain and Poland. Consumers’ belief that eating fish is healthy and their interest in healthy eating positively influence fish consumption behaviour. Subjective knowledge is found to be a more important predictor of fish consumption than objective knowledge. Age and education contribute significantly to explaining fish consumption behaviour. However, the age and education effects on fish consumption frequency are indirect and mediated by the affective health-related and cognitive factors, such as health involvement and interest in healthy eating and knowledge related to fish. The proposed model contributes to a better understanding of health-related and cognitive factors influencing fish consumption behaviour.