Parent-adolescent influences on everyday dietary practices: Perceptions of adolescent females with obesity and their mothers

Pulse-Based Nutrition Education Intervention Among High School Students to Enhance Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices: Pilot for a Formative Survey Study

BACKGROUND

Promoting pulse consumption in schools could improve students' healthy food choices. Pulses, described as legumes, are rich in protein and micronutrients and are an important food choice for health and well-being. However, most Canadians consume very little pulse-based food.

OBJECTIVE

This pilot study sought to investigate outcomes of a teacher-led, school-based food literacy intervention focused on the Pulses Make Perfect Sense (PMPS) program in 2 high schools in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

METHODS

Both high schools were selected using a convenience sampling technique and have similar sociodemographic characteristics. The mean age of students was 16 years. The intervention comprised 7 key themes focused on pulses, which included defining pulses; health and nutritional benefits of pulses; incorporating pulses into meals; the role of pulses in reducing environmental stressors, food insecurity, and malnutrition; product development; taste testing and sensory analysis; and pulses around the world. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess knowledge, attitudes, practices, and barriers regarding pulse consumption in students at baseline and study end. Teachers were interviewed at the end of the intervention. Descriptive statistics and the nonparametric Mann-Whitney U test were used for analysis.

RESULTS

In total, 41 and 32 students participated in the baseline and study-end assessments, respectively. At baseline, the median knowledge score was 9, attitude score was 6, and barrier score was 0. At study end, the median knowledge score was 10, attitude score was 7, and barrier score was 1. A lower score for barriers indicated fewer barriers to pulse consumption. There was a significant difference between baseline and study-end scores in knowledge (P<.05). Barriers to pulse consumption included parents not cooking or consuming pulses at home, participants not liking the taste of pulses, and participants often preferring other food choices over pulses. The teachers indicated that the pulse food-literacy teaching resources were informative, locally available, and easy to use.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the improvements in knowledge, attitude, and practice, pulse consumption did not change significantly at the end of the intervention. Future studies with larger samples are needed to determine the impact of PMPS on knowledge, attitude, and practice of high school students.

Adolescent obesity in the past decade: A systematic review of genetics and determinants of food choice

Background and purpose:

As the incidence of global obesity increases, concerns about adverse health outcomes in adolescents continues to rise. The complexity and expense of this problem require early recognition and specific preventive treatments. Knowledge of genetics and determinants of food choices contributing to adolescent obesity warrants further examination. The primary goal was to appraise the literature from the past decade (2007–2017) on the current state of food choice and genetic determinants of adolescent overweight/obesity in the United States. The secondary goal was to determine trends in the literature and areas for future research.

Methods:

A systematic review of research studies in the United States from 2007 to 2017 was completed. Database searches were conducted using CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, PubMed, Scopus, Academic Search Complete, Web of Science, BIOSIS, and the Cochrane Library. A total of 535 studies were selected. Of these, 283 studies focused on determinants of food choices and 165 studies focused on genetic factors.

Conclusions:

A total of 41 full-text articles included in this literature review contained studies limited exclusively to adolescents. Stress factors related to food choices demonstrated a new trend being explored. The need for precision health, the application of genetic information, could uncover ways food choices affect adolescent obesity.

Implications for practice:

The etiology of adolescent obesity requires that nurses gain knowledge of genetics and food choice determinants to inform personalized treatments for adolescents, which may establish effective interventions that promote healthy weight achievement.

Predictors of breakfast skipping among 14 to 16 years old adolescents in Jordan: The influential role of mothers

AIM

To assess the prevalence and identify the predictors of breakfast skipping among 14- to 16-year-old adolescents in Jordan, focusing on mother-related variables.

BACKGROUND

Breakfast is an essential meal across one's entire lifespan and especially important during the adolescent years. The practice of skipping breakfast has become so prevalent among adolescents that it is now a well-documented nutritional problem.

DESIGN

A descriptive cross-sectional correlational design.

METHODS

A proportional cluster stratified sampling protocol was used to select 1896 adolescents and their mothers (1013) during the period of March to June 2016. A self-reported questionnaire was used to collect data on breakfast-skipping rates, the perceived reasons for this behavior, the perceived importance of consuming breakfast, and maternal encouragement of breakfast consumption.

RESULTS

The prevalence of breakfast skipping was 34.3% among adolescents and 21.5% among their mothers. A significant association was found between breakfast skipping among adolescents and their mothers (χ² [1, n = 998] = 37.90, P = .001). Maternal encouragement of breakfast consumption, gender, and adolescent perception of the importance of this meal were found to be significant predictors of adolescent breakfast skipping.

CONCLUSION

The findings highlight the importance of involving mothers in developing nutritional health plans aimed at promoting regular breakfast consumption among adolescents.

Parent-adolescent influences on everyday dietary practices: Perceptions of adolescent females with obesity and their mothers

Parents demonstrate an important influence on adolescent obesity and dietary behavior; yet, family-based obesity interventions continue to exhibit limited success among adolescents. To further inform family-based approaches for adolescent obesity treatment, we examined the perceptions of adolescent females with obesity and their mothers of the influences experienced within the parent-adolescent relationship that affect everyday dietary practices. We conducted six focus group interviews (three adolescent female and three mother) among 15 adolescent (12-17 years old) females with obesity and 12 of their mothers. Content analysis techniques were used to analyze the transcribed interviews. Adolescent females with obesity discussed a diverse set of parental influences (controlling, supporting and cultivating, overlooking and tempting, acquiescing, providing, attending, and not providing and avoiding) on their daily dietary practices. Among mother focus groups, mothers discussed specific intentional and unintentional types of influences from children that affected the food and drink they consumed, prepared, and acquired. Findings provide a fuller view of the varied social influences on everyday dietary practices within the parent-adolescent relationship. They indicate the importance of examining both parent-to-child and child-to-parent influences and begin to illuminate the value of attending to the social circumstances surrounding dietary behaviors to strengthen family-based obesity treatment approaches.