Adolescent food environment and wellbeing: understanding attitudes and food choice predictors in different learning environments

Abstract

The majority of the human population is now living within urban areas, where opportunities for young people to experience and interact with nature are greatly diminished. With mounting evidence of positive health benefits from interaction with nature, it is feared that this disconnect will have long-term implications for the health and wellbeing of future populations. Adolescence is a particularly crucial period of socialization when young people learn and develop a healthy relationship with food (which is inextricably a part of nature). The connection with food is related to the concept of ‘foodscape’, which can be defined as the places and spaces where food is acquired, prepared, talked about or some form of meaning is gathered. Historically, research has studied effects of nature connection and foodscapes on wellbeing as separate fields of research, when in reality there are many commonalities between them. Young people represent future households, yet little is understood about their perspectives on, and experiences of, their foodscape, or potential drivers in the nature, food and health nexus. The aims of this research study, therefore, are to identify relationships between nature relatedness, foodscape and perceived wellbeing in adolescents; and how these relationships may be shaped by learning opportunities within the school and home environment.Adolescents from three state high schools with differing foodscapes in South East Queensland, Australia, participated in the study. One school was in a rural area surrounded by large-scale agricultural industry and natural vegetation, and the other two schools were based in nature-poor urban areas, one with agricultural programs offered by the school, and one without. A mixed methods approach was used that included a foodscape assessment, surveys and photovoice. The foodscape assessment provided a novel baseline measure for the three differing foodscapes that adolescents are exposed to. Across all schools, 59 students and potential role models (31 parents and 91 classroom teachers) completed online surveys including measures of food literacy, nature relatedness, wellbeing, healthy eating attitudes, behaviours and decisions. This was complemented by photovoice with thirty-two students who took photographs of what ‘food in my life’ meant to them and subsequently discussed these images in semi-structured interviews.This research project found significant correlations between adolescent nature relatedness and wellbeing. These correlations occur across all three foodscapes. Most adolescents felt that food connected them with nature; however urban students were less likely than rural students to mention specifically that food comes from nature. Although the food literacy scores were not significantly different between the schools, a divergence became apparent between the rural and urban adolescents in relation to food system awareness. Interestingly, positive healthy eating attitudes and confidence (i.e., food self-efficacy) appeared to play a more important role in predicting healthy diets than food literacy.Adolescents demonstrated an astute awareness of healthy/good and unhealthy/bad foods in relation to ingredients, ways of eating (e.g., eating take-away meals) and different types of foods. Yet they simultaneously expressed noticeable confusion on this matter, referring to some foods as ‘healthy-ish’, or describing a ‘balanced’ diet as consuming something healthy followed by something unhealthy. This may be partially explained by the foodscape assessment, which found that even though availability and access to food and nature were different between the participating schools, the school canteens were all equally unhealthy. Furthermore, discretionary food items were the third most frequently photographed theme but were not specifically discussed during the interviews. This suggests that adolescents are not particularly cognisant of, or concerned about, the presence of discretionary foods (i.e., it is just a normal part of their foodscape).Although students spend a large proportion of their time at school, adolescent perceptions of their foodscape and its influences primarily center around the home. Key themes relating to adolescent perspectives on foodscapes highlighted the food in front of them (either common or favourite foods), food routines, their emotional relationship with food, and the important role that family has in shaping their relationship with food (in particular mothers). These findings have direct implications for preventative health messages targeting adolescents.This research study strengthens concerns raised in the literature on adolescent health trends and draws attention to the need for public health interventions that incorporate the broader community, deliver well-defined strategies and address emotional connections with food. Australian secondary schools could further support such messages by enforcing a whole-school healthy foodscape as well as exploring avenues of enhancing adolescent food self-efficacy. The study also has implications for urban design and planning, as it highlights the important role that urban agriculture could play in ensuring urban adolescents have similar opportunities to their rural counterparts. There is therefore a need for closer cross-disciplinary collaborations to assist adolescents in developing a healthier relationship with food. Most importantly, adolescents should not be seen as victims of their foodscape but rather be empowered to be agents of change.