Food choices of young African American and Latino adolescents

Nutrition Research Newsletter, Dec, 2006

During the past two decades, obesity rates have doubled among children and tripled among adolescents. Research has shown that the quality of school-aged children's diets declines over time and that early adolescence is a critical period for the development of overweight. Although children become increasingly used to the broader environment as they grow up, the home environment remains a central context for children's dietary practices, and parental influence remains crucial.

National data have found higher rates of overweight and obesity in Latino and African American children compared with non-Hispanic white children. Some studies suggest that African American and Latino parents may have a higher threshold for identifying a child as overweight than medical standards or believe it is a phase youth outgrow. They may be more accommodating of children's preferences than whites. However, it is not clear to what extent these perceptions and practices may vary across children's age levels. Therefore, a current study tried to gain insight into parents' perceptions of the food preferences of their young adolescents, and their negotiation and decision-making strategies around food purchasing and meals.

Four focus groups were held with 32 African American parents and three focus groups with 14 Spanish-dominant, first-generation immigrant Latino mothers. All parents had children aged 11 to 15 years. Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to explore parents' perceptions of their young adolescents' dietary practices. Some of the questions included what kinds of food their child asked for; whether there were certain foods the parent bought to encourage their child to eat or foods they restricted their child from eating; how decisions were made about what to have for dinner; what was done if the child did not like the meal being prepared; and what were the main issues facing the teen, from the perspective of the parents.

Most participants were of low socioeconomic status and were single parents. Parents reported that their adolescents ate on an average 15 meals per week at home. Many African American parents emphasized children's growing appetites and preferences for fast food. Many reported making weekday dinner decisions jointly with the child or allowing the child to eat a lunch-like alternative, and allowing serve-yourself meals on weekends. A few prepared traditional ethnic foods. Latino parents reported that their children liked ethnic foods and fast/junk foods. They emphasized buying food their children wanted, maintaining no eating restrictions, and preparing traditional ethnic dinners without alternatives. African American and Latino parents displayed concern over whether to place restrictions on young adolescents' eating.

Quantitative and qualitative research is needed on the neighborhood and household food environment and on the environment for physical activity. This study has several limitations including the small convenience sample of diverse parents, nearly all women, cannot be seen as representative of African American or Latino parents. In addition, focus group material is partial, leaving one to wonder whether what was left unsaid might be more important than what was said. However, it is clear that research and appropriate public health interventions are needed that give due consideration to the many constraints under which low-income parents raise their children and that cultural diversity is addressed.

Maureen O'Dougherty, Mary Story, Leslie Lytle, et al. Food Choices of Young African American and Latino Adolescents: Where do Parents Fit In? JADA; 106(11): 1846-1850 (November 2006). [Correspondence: Maureen O'Dougherty, PhD, Research Associate, Department of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Minnesota, 1334 Eckles Ave, St Paul, MN 55108. E-mail: modoughe@umn.edu.]