“We think about the quantity more”: factors influencing emerging adults’ food outlet choice in a university food environment, a qualitative enquiry

Abstract

Background In recent decades, the food environment has seen rapid transformation globally, altering food availability and access along with how people interact with the food environment and make food-related choice. Objectives & method This explorative study aimed to identify the factors that shape the decision-making process for food outlet choices among emerging adults in a Ghanaian University food environment. The study uses focus group discussions in combination with novel dyadic interviews with best friend pairs. Verbatim transcripts were analysed thematically using NVivo 12. Results Drawing on socio-ecological model (SEM) of behaviour, the study used testimony from 46 participants aged 18–25, 47% female, including individuals from major ethnicities and religions in Ghana, and identified three interwoven levels of influence shaping emerging adults’ choices of food outlet. The main factors influencing food outlet choice were identified as food prices, spatial accessibility, budget, and food quantity/satiety with additional factors including hygiene, variety of foods, food quality and taste preferences as well as societal factors such as ambience and peer influence. Conclusion Multi-component approaches that combine structural level interventions in food retailing along with individual level components may be effective at changing emerging adult consumption behaviour in SSA, although this needs to be studied.

Perceptions and determinants of adopting sustainable eating behaviours among university students in Canada: a qualitative study using focus group discussions

“…Particularly, meal plans and university food outlets were the major themes mentioned by the participants in this category. This is consistent with findings from recent studies where university food and food environment characteristics were identified as important factors for enabling healthy and sustainable eating behaviours (Lee et al , 2019; Mensah and Oyebode, 2022). Marquis et al also concluded that action to increase food variety and convenient meals is required in the residence halls in university campuses (Marquis et al , 2019).…”

“…Within the students' social environment, family, particularly parents, were the most important determinants of sustainable eating behaviours, followed by friends/peers, as students spend most of their time with their friends/peers when they are on campus. This has been highlighted in others studies, where it was found that parents impact diet trajectory patterns of young adults (Appannah et al, 2021), and friends have major influences on food choices due to time spent together and the need to be accepted by the social group (Malan et al, 2020;Mensah and Oyebode, 2022). Furthermore, eating was considered a social activity for many of the participants, which influenced their food choices based on their social group.…”

“…fridge and stove); and access to means of transportation (personal vehicle or public transportation). These factors were also concerns mentioned in other [cooking facilities in Mensah and Oyebode (2022), transportation in Bivoltsis et al (2020) and Shannon and Christian (2017)]. Food cost was also a critical factor in whether participants purchased healthy and sustainable food items as they had budget constraints.…”

Type, density, and healthiness of food-outlets in a university foodscape: a geographical mapping and characterisation of food resources in a Ghanaian university campus

“…This is consistent Fig. 4 Food outlet healthiness with qualitative findings from students in our study university [34] and a non-university context in China in a study that used the GIS method [46]. The study assessed the proximity/clustering of food-outlets around departmental buildings (including lecture rooms) and halls/hostels of residence, as these are the places students spend most of their time on campus.…”

“…That is, the prevailing characteristics of the University foodscape may be a materialised reflection of students' longstanding preferences. Qualitative research among UK and Bangladeshi students have suggested that academic demands on time (among students in this university [34]) and the lack of cooking skills among young university students make eating-out a convenient choice [58,59]. While all these reasons may not be the case among students at our study university due to differing cultural contexts, the findings here are consistent with the results from an urban poor non-student community in Ghana using the GIS method [5] and the Xi Hu district of China [46] showing a high number of outof-home cooked food and fast-food restaurants, respectively.…”