From the Lunch Table, to the Family Table: A Grounded Theory Approach to Understanding Urban Adolescents’ Experiences of Food Culture Mismatch between School and Home Environments

ABSTRACT

Based on a participatory action research project in New York City from 2012 to 2014, our study compares the experience of black and Latino adolescents between their school and home food environments. Following a photovoice approach, adolescents participated in a “food justice” curriculum, photographed foodscapes, and conducted photo-elicited interviews. Using a grounded theory approach, we found that adolescents had mismatched experiences between school and home food environments under two conditions: sensory-emotional and sociopolitical. Mismatch suggested psychological and behavioral consequences, including skipping or wasting school lunch entrées and consuming energy-dense, nutrient-poor snack foods. We named this middle-range substantive theory food culture mismatch.

KEYWORDS:

• Adolescence
• food environment
• home
• school
• theory

Acknowledgments

In the spirit of community-based participatory research, this study would not have been possible without the child-focused nonprofit organization that served as our coresearchers in this project. We also owe thanks to all the research assistants for their help with data collection, transcription, and Spanish language assistance.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Hunter College Presidential Fund for Faculty Advancement and the George N. Shuster Faculty Fellowship.