Socioeconomic Differences and the Potential Role of Tribes in Young People's Food and Drink Purchasing Outside School at Lunchtime.

Ariadne Beatrice Kapetanaki,Wendy J Wills,Neil H Spencer,Giada Danesi

doi:10.3390/ijerph16142447

Abstract

Socioeconomic deprivation has been linked to food consumption practices, but studies investigating the food environment around schools provide mixed findings. Peer influence and marketing cues are considered important influencers of young people’s behaviors. This study used a tribal theory lens to investigate the factors affecting pupils’ purchasing and consumption of food/drinks outside schools at lunchtime. A survey was conducted with 243 pupils from seven UK secondary schools of differing socioeconomic status (SES). A purchasing recall questionnaire (PRQ) was developed and administered online at the participating schools to capture food and drink purchasing, intake, and expenditure. No significant differences were found in terms of energy and nutrients consumed or food/drink expenditure between pupils from schools of lower and higher SES. Enjoyment of food shopping with friends was linked with higher food energy intake and spend. Higher susceptibility to peer influence was associated with greater influence from food advertising and endorsements. Without ignoring the impact that SES can have on young people’s food choices, we suggest that tribal theory can be additionally used to understand pupils’ eating behaviors and we present implications for social marketers and policy makers.

Highlights

Obesity and diet-related non communicable diseases are major public health issues that affect children, young people, and adults [1,2]
Our findings suggest that pupils who consume food and drinks during their lunch break are influenced by their enjoyment of shopping with friends
Our study contributes to the ongoing debate on post-subculture theory [81,97] and supports that tribal theory could provide an additional perspective for exploring youth food consumption along with any influences of the food environment and socioeconomic status (SES), which have led previous studies to produce ambiguous findings

Summary

Introduction

Obesity and diet-related non communicable diseases are major public health issues that affect children, young people, and adults [1,2]. One way of exercising this independence is through the food choices made during the school lunch break. Some young people purchase their lunch from retailers outside their school and it has been found that the percentage doing so is considerably higher in Scotland ( the focus of this study) than in Canada and the USA [5,6]. This is important because food and drink consumed outside of home or school is often higher in fat, sugar, or salt [7,8]

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Discussion

Conclusion