Spaces between home and school: The effect of eating location on adolescent nutrition

ABSTRACT

Using interview and self-administered survey data, this article examines how homes, schools, and the community spaces between these two locations affect adolescent nutrition in a low-income, urban setting. Results from this research show that eating location can play a significant role in the foods that adolescents consume. Food acquisition data provided by adolescents reveal that homes and schools provide spaces for the consumption of healthy foods while shops, restaurants, takeouts, and community centers contribute unhealthy snack foods to adolescent diets in a traditionally low-income, urban neighborhood in Northern Ireland. The results of this research show that eating location can provide a starting point for designing healthy eating interventions in low-income places to avoid overlap with spaces that already provide healthy foods to young people.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescents
• eating location
• northern Ireland
• nutrition advice

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Funding

Funding sources for this project include a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant and a Dissertation Enhancement Award from the University of Kentucky.