Crystal Smit

Chapter 5 124 Nevertheless, an interesting opportunity for future research would be to use an additional methodology, such as observations at school (van de Gaar et al., 2014), and measure the beverage intake from different sources (Loughridge & Barratt, 2005; Muckelbauer et al., 2009). Conclusion The findings of this study add important insights to the existing social network intervention literature by shedding light on how we can optimally motivate influence agents to engage in the target behavior and effectively support them in motivating their peers. The current study provides promising evidence for the use of an autonomy-supportive approach in the training of influence agents in social network interventions. In particular, providing personallymeaningful rationales for the target behavior, based on short-term benefits, seems to play an important role in motivating primary school children (i.e., aged 9 to 13 years old). Furthermore, for this age group, it seems important that social network interventions focus on providing influencing agents with the skills to use face-to-face strategies, as well as giving them the freedom to choose how they wish to motivate their peers.