- Title
- Food culture of Australian adolescents: what we know and where we need to go
- Creator
- Mingay, Edwina
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2024
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- The factors that influence our decision-making around food and eating have become increasingly complex with changes to food systems. Adolescence (defined as the stage of life that encompasses people aged 10 to 24 years) is an important time of transition for independent decision-making around food and other lifestyle behaviours. Poor eating habits that do not provide adequate nutrition negatively affect people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing. Mental health, obesity, and a declining quality of diet in the transition from childhood to adolescence are the dominant nutrition-related health issues faced by adolescents today. This places a burden on adolescents, increasing health risks as they age and instigating trends that can potentially affect future generations. In contrast to interventions for other age groups, preventive health initiatives targeting adolescents have been underserved. Nonetheless, the worldwide population of adolescents has never been greater. The food behaviours and experiences of adolescents are greatly influenced by the environments wherein they live, work, learn and play, along with their social milieux. The education sector and the food environments therein create an ideal setting for health promotion in which adolescent attitudes and behaviour can be examined. Boarding schools are a particularly interesting context, adding different food culture parameters to a traditional mix of school and home influences. There are ongoing calls for greater engagement with adolescents to better understand what drives their food behaviours and shapes food culture as they navigate modern-day food systems and environments. This would help inform adolescent-tailored public health initiatives, ensure the relevance of program material, and empower adolescents to take care of their health and wellbeing. This thesis applies the construct of food culture to inform a series of studies that focus on secondary schools (including boarding schools) and universities that provide a routine main-meal service for students. This setting enables an examination of food behaviours, outside of the home environment, where adolescents have repeated exposure to food that contributes significantly to their daily dietary intake, and therefore, to health behaviours and nutrition-related health risks. Each piece of work presented in Chapters 3 to 8 is anchored in a social-ecological approach to investigate the individual, social, and environmental factors that influence adolescents’ attitudes and behaviours around food and eating and shapes their food culture. Therefore, the aims of this thesis are to, (1) examine the factors that influence and can prompt adolescent food behaviours in educational settings, (2) explore adolescents’ experience of the food environment at boarding school, and (3) explore the barriers and facilitators of a positive food culture at boarding school, and opportunities for improvement. To address these aims, the thesis has been structured around six additional chapters and objectives: Objective 1: To provide a narrative review and working definition of food culture that articulates the complexities that influence decision-making around food and eating (Chapter 3). Definitions of food culture have previously existed; however, a description of modern food culture that can be applied for health promotion was lacking. The concept of food culture within public health was explored to understand, and question, the broad components that interact (directly or indirectly) to influence people’s exposure, experience, attitudes, and cultivated food behaviours that shapes food culture. A food culture model was used to examine the construct of food culture that proposes all segments of society have a role to play. This includes individual characteristics, place (i.e., physical settings), people and our social milieux, and macro sectors (i.e., policy and systems). Objective 2: To systematically review nutrition-related interventions conducted in secondary schools that provide a routine main-meal service to students (10 to 18 years) to determine the impact on their food behaviours, health, and dining experiences specifically within this setting in which they routinely consume meals (Chapter 4). A systematic review and meta-analysis of experimental studies was conducted. Thirty-five studies were included. The interventions that showed the most impact on the student selection or consumption of a meal component were multi-strategy, incorporated student engagement, implemented school food policy, increased availability or accessibility of healthier options, and/or reduced availability of discretionary choices. Novel interventions such as the use of technology and student sampling showed promise. Objective 3: To systematically review nutrition-related interventions in university dining halls where resident students consume meals to determine the impact on their food behaviours and dining experiences (Chapter 5). This alternative setting was investigated to differentiate findings from the secondary school setting, and examine a tertiary setting where students (19 to 24 years) routinely consume meals. Ten experimental studies were included that focused on point-of-selection (POS) messaging that had a positive impact on the selection or consumption of a meal component. Students’ awareness of healthy eating increased; however, the availability and marketing of less healthy options posed a barrier to healthier choices. Objective 4: To design and conduct a qualitative study in boarding schools to gain an in-depth understanding of the food, nutrition, and food culture in the boarding school environment from a range of stakeholders in the boarding community (Chapter 6). This chapter presents a detailed methodology of an ethnographic qualitative study designed to examine the shared patterns and observations of the food culture at boarding school (phenomena under study) through the lens of different stakeholders from the boarding school community (i.e., boarder students, boarder parents and staff). Objective 5: To explore students’ lived experience of food culture within the boarding school setting and how this aligns with typical features of adolescence more broadly during this formative life stage (Chapter 7). The inquiry into boarder students’ lived experience found an interplay between both internal (within school) and external (outside of school) attributes that contribute to and shape the food culture at boarding school. Four major themes emerged: (1) the significance of place and practices, (2) interactions and socialisation, (3) societal pressures and (4) the food served and its sensory attributes. Objective 6: To explore the barriers and facilitators of a positive food culture at boarding school, as well as opportunities for improvement from the perspective of boarder students, boarder parents, and staff (Chapter 8). Four major themes emerged: (1) the place and practices, (2) the people, (3) the food and (4) external factors. The main barriers included the quality of food served, peer and media influences, a diverse crowd to please and specific aspects of the physical environment. The main facilitators included the social occasion at mealtimes, available facilities, special events and themed meals, and the school’s approach to building a positive food culture. Findings of this thesis may be translated into an intervention package for boarding schools, assessing qualitative and quantitative changes in the food environment, nutrition quality, and student food behaviours and their relationship with food.
- Subject
- adolescent; food; culture; school; nutrition
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1511543
- Identifier
- uon:56506
- Rights
- Copyright 2024 Edwina Mingay
- Language
- eng
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