Metadata for a survey investigating motivations for meat-free diets in Sweden

The health and environmental impacts of meat-based diets are increasingly
recognized as sustainability issues, but the motivations behind behaviour
change driving vegetarian diets have generally been studied via a limited
set of motivations and are therefore poorly understood. To examine such
motivations, we designed a survey measuring 20 different possible
motivations, using 77 statements drawn from the existing Food Choice
Questionnaire as well as diverse literature on environmental protection,
animal welfare, social norms, and pro-environmental behaviour. We
administered the survey to 121 vegetarians in Skåne, Sweden.   We
found that animal welfare was by far the most important overall motivation
for vegetarian diets (mean rating 4.29 on a 5-point scale), followed by
intrinsic motivation (3.0), reduced consumption (2.69), environmental
concern (2.65) and health (2.59). The least important motivations (ratings
under 2.0) were sociability, social image, weight control, mood, and
convenience. The most highly rated individual statements (ratings above
4.0) were protecting animal rights and avoiding causing animals pain, and
a sense of integrity in living up to one’s values. We conclude that
vegetarians are primarily motivated by valuing animals as well as personal
integrity and enjoyment derived from vegetarian food, and that promoting
vegetarian diets might therefore be more successful if focused on aligning
consumer’s internal values and satisfaction with their behaviour, rather
than emphasizing concerns for the environment or health. Understanding
values of non-vegetarians would also be important to designing effective
dietary strategies to promote more sustainable diets.