Journal of the American Dietetic Association
Individual and Environmental Influences on Adolescent Eating Behaviors
Section snippets
A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Adolescent Eating Behaviors
Conceptual models or theories are useful in understanding and explaining the dynamics of health behaviors, the processes for changing the behaviors, and the effects of external influences on the behaviors (13), (14). A common theme that runs throughout the various theoretical frameworks used to explain eating behavior is that multiple socioenvironmental and personal factors interact to influence individual behavioral patterns (13). Social cognitive theory (SCT) provides a particularly useful
Psychosocial
Food preferences Food preferences are formed as a result of the complex interactions of many factors in a person's environment, including early childhood experiences with food and eating, positive or negative conditioning, exposure, and genetics (eg, sensitivity to a bitter taste) (18). Self-reported food preferences have been found to be one of the strongest predictors of food choices (15), (19), (20), (21).
Taste and sensory perceptions of food Studies with adolescents and adults have shown
Family
The family is a major influence on adolescents’ eating behavior. The family mediates adolescents’ dietary patterns in 2 distinct ways: The family is a provider of food, and the family influences food attitudes, preferences, and values that affect lifetime eating habits. As they transition toward greater independence and autonomy, food habits of adolescents reflect the changing role of parental influence on food choices. The increase in dining out that occurs during adolescence is related to the
Physical Environmental Influences (Community Settings)
One third of all teen eating occasions take place outside the home (53). More than half (52%) of out-of-home eating occasions take place at school, followed by fast-food restaurants (16%), other locations (16%), and vending machines (6%) (53). Thus, the physical environment in the community has a large impact on adolescent eating, influencing access to and availability of foods and influencing perceived norms regarding eating behaviors.
Macrosystem Influences (Societal)
Macrosystem influences are more distal to the adolescent but have the potential to have a substantial effect on adolescents, their families, peers, and the community in which they live. Factors within the larger society—which can affect adolescent eating behavior—include the media, cultural norms, social norms, food production and distribution systems, and food accessibility and availability. For example, youth and families living on rural American Indian reservations or families living in
Future Research Directions
This review indicates that there are multiple interacting influences on adolescents’ eating behaviors and that the relationships between these factors are complex. Future research should examine how the multiple levels of the ecological model described in this paper influence adolescent eating behaviors. Development of effective nutrition interventions rests on identifying factors most predictive of adolescent eating behaviors, and the relative strengths of the individual and environmental
Implications for Interventions and Policies
This article proposes an ecological model for understanding individual and environmental factors that influence adolescent eating behaviors. The identification of predictive factors at multiple levels of influence is crucial because factors that are the most potent and amenable to change should form the foundation for planning interventions (97). The objective of health behavior programs is to change predictive factors that serve to support and reinforce the targeted behavior. Changing
Summary
This paper presents an ecological model to understand and explain the multiple and interacting influences on adolescent eating behaviors. An understanding of how the 4 levels of influence—individual, social environmental, physical environmental, and macrosystem—interact and affect adolescent eating behaviors is needed for the development of effective nutrition interventions. Interventions addressing factors at the different levels of influence, which complement and build upon each other, are
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