Factors Influencing Food Choices of Adolescents: Findings from Focus-Group Discussions with Adolescents

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Abstract

Objective To assess adolescents' perceptions about factors influencing their food choices and eating behaviors.

Design Data were collected in focus-group discussions.

Subjects/setting The study population included 141 adolescents in 7th and 10th grade from 2 urban schools in St Paul, Minn, who participated in 21 focus groups.

Analysis Data were analyzed using qualitative research methodology, specifically, the constant comparative method.

Results Factors perceived as influencing food choices included hunger and food cravings, appeal of food, time considerations of adolescents and parents, convenience of food, food availability, parental influence on eating behaviors (including the culture or religion of the family), benefits of foods (including health), situation-specific factors, mood, body image, habit, cost, media, and vegetarian beliefs. Major barriers to eating more fruits, vegetables, and dairy products and eating fewer high-fat foods included a lack of sense of urgency about personal health in relation to other concerns, and taste preferences for other foods. Suggestions for helping adolescents eat a more healthful diet include making healthful food taste and look better, limiting the availability of unhealthful options, making healthful food more available and convenient, teaching children good eating habits at an early age, and changing social norms to make it “cool” to eat healthfully.

Applications/conclusions The findings suggest that if programs to improve adolescent nutrition are to be effective, they need to address a broad range of factors, in particular environmental factors (eg, the increased availability and promotion of appealing, convenient foods within homes, schools, and restaurants). J Am Diet Assoc. 1999;99:929–934,937.

Section snippets

Study Population and Study Design

The study population included 141 male and female adolescents in 7th and 10th grade from 2 large inner-city schools in St Paul, Minn, who participated in 21 focus groups. The mean age of the 7th graders was 12.6 years (range=12–14 years) and the mean age of the 10th graders was 16.0 years (range=15–19 years). This school district was chosen because it serves one of the most diverse racial/ethnic student populations in the state. Adolescents reported their race/ethnicity as follows: 40% white,

Why Do Adolescents Eat What They Eat?

Factors that adolescents viewed as influencing their food choices were categorized into 3 levels on the basis of the frequency and extensiveness with which the participants talked about them. The first level includes factors that were talked about most frequently and extensively. In descending order of frequency mentioned, the level-1 factors were hunger and food cravings, appeal of food (primarily taste), time considerations (of adolescents and parents), and convenience of food. Level-2

Discussion

In developing models to explain adolescent eating behaviors and interventions to improve these behaviors, it is important to gather adolescent input regarding factors they view as influencing their food choices, difficulties they face in making healthful food choices, and suggestions for helping them eat in a more healthful manner. Findings from this study have implications for the development of quantitative surveys aimed at further study of factors associated with adolescent nutritional

Applications/Conclusions

The findings demonstrate the broad range of factors perceived by adolescents as influencing their food choices and suggest that the relationships between these factors are quite complex. Surveys aimed at developing theoretical models explaining the food choices of adolescents need to cover a broad range of factors if the model is to explain a substantial percentage of variance in food choice behaviors. To date, few studies have attempted to empirically test comprehensive models explaining

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