Family meals and food insecurity in Spanish adolescents

The world is not on track to achieve the goal of food security for the global population by 2030. New approaches to understand individuals’ food insecurity are needed, especially insecurity related to children and adolescents, since it is associated with health and psychosocial problems. The study a...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Barreiro-Álvarez, María Fernanda, Latorre-Millán, Miriam, Bach-Faig, Anna, Fornieles, Albert, Sánchez-Carracedo, David
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
Repositorio:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
OAI Identifier:oai:openaccess.uoc.edu:10609/150565
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10609/150565
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2024.107214
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:food insecurity
food security
home environment
family meals
family dinner index
adolescents
Descripción
Sumario:The world is not on track to achieve the goal of food security for the global population by 2030. New approaches to understand individuals’ food insecurity are needed, especially insecurity related to children and adolescents, since it is associated with health and psychosocial problems. The study aimed to characterise the family dinners among a representative cohort of schooled adolescents (n = 1017) and their parents (n = 261) in Terrassa (Catalonia, Spain) and how family dinners could be related to household food insecurity. The survey findings revealed that in 2022, 19.2% of the adolescents were experiencing household food insecurity. Adolescents with a lower socioeconomic status and of foreign origin showed the highest likelihood of experiencing household food insecurity. Household food security was also associated with some characteristics of family dinners, such as better quality and a higher frequency (seven or more dinners eaten together per week). Based on this finding, possible ways in which family dinners could offer a beneficial effect, alleviating the consequences of food insecurity in adolescents, are discussed. In line with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goal of guaranteeing food security, the promotion of family dinners and their quality, frequency, and duration to leverage the beneficial effect in states of household food insecurity in Spanish adolescents should be taken into account to design actions and public campaigns in Spain.