Adolescent food environment and wellbeing: understanding attitudes and food choice predictors in different learning environments

Abstract

The majority of the human population is now living within urban areas, where opportunities for young people to experience and interact with nature are greatly diminished. With mounting evidence of positive health benefits from interaction with nature, it is feared that this disconnect will have longterm implications for the health and wellbeing of future populations. Adolescence is a particularly crucial period of socialization when young people learn and develop a healthy relationship with food (which is inextricably a part of nature). The connection with food is related to the concept of 'foodscape', which can be defined as the places and spaces where food is acquired, prepared, talked about or some form of meaning is gathered. Historically, research has studied effects of nature connection and foodscapes on wellbeing as separate fields of research, when in reality there are many commonalities between them. Young people represent future households, yet little is understood about their perspectives on, and experiences of, their foodscape, or potential drivers in the nature, food and health nexus. The aims of this research study, therefore, are to identify relationships between nature relatedness, foodscape and perceived wellbeing in adolescents; and how these relationships may be shaped by learning opportunities within the school and home environment. Adolescents from three state high schools with differing foodscapes in South East Queensland, Australia, participated in the study. One school was in a rural area surrounded by large-scale agricultural industry and natural vegetation, and the other two schools were based in nature-poor urban areas, one with agricultural programs offered by the school, and one without. A mixed methods approach was used that included a foodscape assessment, surveys and photovoice. The foodscape assessment provided a novel baseline measure for the three differing foodscapes that adolescents are exposed to. Across all schools, 59 students and potential role models (31 parents and 91 classroom teachers) completed online surveys including measures of food literacy, nature relatedness, wellbeing, healthy eating attitudes, behaviours and decisions. This was complemented by photovoice with thirty-two students who took photographs of what 'food in my life' meant to them and subsequently discussed these images in semi-structured interviews. This research project found significant correlations between adolescent nature relatedness and wellbeing. These correlations occur across all three foodscapes. Most adolescents felt that food connected them with nature; however urban students were less likely than rural students to mention specifically that food comes from nature. Although the food literacy scores were not significantly different between the schools, a divergence became apparent between the rural and urban adolescents in relation to food system awareness. Interestingly, positive healthy eating attitudes and confidence Publications included in this thesis No publications included.