A mixed methods case study research design was adopted as it allows for the opportunity to study the out-of-home food consumption practices in a real life context. Data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews, a survey, and dual interviews. In total, six school employees and or experts participated in the semi-structured interviews, as well as 105 secondary school students in the survey and ten in the dual interviews. After analysis, five distinct out-of-home food consumption practices among adolescents were identified. And although there are some differences between them, these practices have many elements in common. The defining materials of adolescents’ out-of-home food consumption practices are time, financial means and the food environment. Competences in relation to healthy and sustainable consumption, although present, feature little within these practices. Finally, the single most important meaning is the sociability of adolescents’ out-of-home food consumption practices.
The research also found that bringing lunch from home results in the adoption of healthier and more sustainable food consumption practices, and that parents play an important role in this. These findings indicate that focusing on individual behaviour alone or on promoting healthy and sustainable consumption among adolescents is unlikely to result in adolescents adopting healthier and more sustainable food consumption practices. Instead, the social aspect of out-of home food consumption practices should be closely considered, and emphasis should be put on educating parents and encouraging secondary school students to bring food from home.
Author: George van der Raaij