Young adolescents’ experiences and views on eating and food

Abstract

Purpose Poor eating habits established during adolescence are likely to lead to negative long-term health consequences. The childhood obesity epidemic is a growing public health concern, largely attributed to obesogenic environments. This study aims to explore the multiple factors contributing positively or negatively to young consumers’ attitudes towards their food consumption. Design/methodology/approach In total, 42 11- to 13-years-old (24 men and 18 women) from three secondary schools in Wales participated in five focus group discussions. The process of thematic analysis resulted in several identified themes that influenced young consumers’ eating habits. Findings Extrapersonal factors compromised: education, peer pressure, parenting, availability and social media; and intrapersonal factors included: health consciousness, taste preferences, convenience and price consciousness. Contrary to previous research, the adolescent participants perceived their parents as more influential than their peer group, even during decision-making in the school canteen. Practical implications These research findings are beneficial for policy-makers working to develop an age-appropriate multi-factorial approach to promote healthful dietary practices amongst young consumers. For instance, increasing easily accessible food-to-go choices that are not only convenient to purchase and consume but also healthful could improve dietary intake. Originality/value A novel connection between peer pressure and convenience was discovered. Multiple factors contribute to young consumers’ attitudes towards food and their dietary habits.

The influence of unhealthy food and beverage marketing through social media and advergaming on diet‐related outcomes in children—A systematic review

“…A total of 4375 records was excluded based on title and abstract (of which 9 based on non‐English language) and we screened the full‐text of 43 records for eligibility. Nineteen records were excluded after the full‐text screening, as they did not research children, 42 , 43 , 44 did not research marketing exposure, 45 , 46 , 47 did not research HFSS products, 48 , 49 , 50 only described the influence of social media or advergaming in combination with television or other online media, 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 or because the record was not a peer‐reviewed scientific article presenting primary research. 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 The references of the included studies were checked for eligibility, from which two additional studies were identified and included.…”

Reimagining Food: Readdressing and Respecting Values

“…The challenge, or perhaps the opportunity, is that intrinsic value and emotio-cultural value are more likely to be developed with the availability of time. The lack of time people in the UK have to commit to food, whether that be eating a healthy diet, sharing food with others, expanding their knowledge, time to shop, or even wishing to spend their time in other ways challenges the development of alter-values based food networks and the reimagining of food beyond its exchange value [119][120][121]. AFNs allow for new places within the food environment to develop, with different values associated with them, both financial and non-financial.…”

Adolescent Consumer Vulnerability: Consumer Socialization Perspective

“…Next, Parents influence on adolescent highlighted that; parents are the most effective source in encouraging adolescents to eat healthy food (Chan et al, 2010), Children are vulnerable through the posts in social media by their parents (Fox and Hoy, 2019), parents are more influential than peer group in fast food consumption (Gilmour et al, 2020;Rydell et al, 2008).…”

“…Additionally, it is evident that junk food marketing appeals (Harris et al, 2020;Elliot, 2017;Beaudon, 2014) However, desired research findings do not exist to figure out the role of socio-demographic variables, and how those variables may alter the relationship between socialization agents and adolescent consumer vulnerability (Shin et al, 2019;Davis, 2013, Lueg et al, 2006). Meanwhile, the existing authors highlighted the importance of studying several socio-economic variables; Age cohorts (Lapierre et al, 2017;Lenka and Vandana,2015;Ozdogan and Atlantis,2010;Chan et al, 2010) Gender (McCoy et al 2017; Ozdogan and Atlantis, 2010), Family status (Gilmour et al, 2020;Fox and Hoy, 2019;Shin et al, 2019;Lueg et al, 2006) in upcoming researches.…”