Qualitative Research on the Perceptions of Factors Influencing Diet and Eating Behaviors Among Primarily Latinx Seventh-Grade Students.

BACKGROUND: Latinx youth are a population of concern, at elevated risk for chronic diseases and with poor adherence to dietary recommendations. OBJECTIVES: To examine Latinx seventh-grade students' perceptions of the factors that influence their diet and eating behaviors. DESIGN: This qualitative research used focus groups and an inductive content analysis approach. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: Five sex-stratified focus groups (three groups with females) with 35 primarily Latinx seventh-grade students were conducted at two local Title 1 public middle schools in a large metropolitan area of the Southwestern United States. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The discussion protocol included questions about participants' food choices, the role of their parents in their diet, and healthy body-related concerns among their peers. ANALYSES: Verbatim transcripts were coded in NVivo 12 on the basis of specificity, extensiveness, and frequency. Themes emerged from group dialogue, detailed conversations, and predominant topics of discussion, and aligned with ecological systems theory. RESULTS: Participants referred to factors influencing Latinx seventh-grade students' eating behaviors at the individual, family, household, and school levels. At the individual level, participants described their eating as unhealthy and perceived it as determined by taste, convenience, ease of preparation, and home availability. Participants expressed concerns about diabetes because of their body weight and family history, and identified those concerns as reasons for acceptance of healthy foods and the desire for parents to model healthy eating behaviors. Family-level factors perceived as influencing dietary behaviors included the role of parents as providers of food and models of unhealthy eating, budget constraints, and availability (or lack thereof) of healthy foods at home. Similarly, the identified school-level factors aligned with availability and quality of foods in that environment. CONCLUSIONS: Family- and household-related factors emerged as important influences on seventh-grade students' dietary behaviors. Future diet interventions should incorporate strategies targeting these multiple-level factors that influence dietary intake for Latinx youth and that address the concerns related to disease risk.

Methods and rationale to assess the efficacy of a parenting intervention targeting diet improvement and substance use prevention among Latinx adolescents.

Latinx adolescents are at higher risk for chronic diseases relative to adolescents of other ethnic groups, in part because of their lack of adherence to diet recommendations and their higher rates of substance use. Given the proximal influence of family factors during the developmental stage of adolescence, parenting interventions may be an effective way to promote healthy nutrition and substance use prevention simultaneously. This article describes the design and theoretical rationale of a study assessing the effects of Families Preparing the New Generation Plus (FPNG Plus), a 10-week culturally-tailored nutrition and substance use prevention parenting program, on diet and substance use outcomes among Latinx middle school students (6th-8th grade). The 3-arm cluster randomized controlled trial compares FPNG Plus (substance use prevention and healthy nutrition), FPNG (substance use prevention only), and a comparison condition (focusing on academic success) in 1494 parent-child dyads from 18 schools, randomized at the school level. Adolescents and parents will complete surveys pre- and post-intervention, and 16-weeks after program participation, regarding diet behaviors, substance use, and parenting practices. A random subsample of 126 dyads (42 from each program), will participate in additional data collection to assess the home food environment, detailed dietary intake (via two 24-h recalls), and provide biomarkers of cardiometabolic risk (blood pressure, total cholesterol and HbA1c). If successful, this study will provide evidence contributing to helping Latinx parents assist their adolescent children develop and maintain long-lasting positive lifestyle behaviors in order to prevent concurrent substance use and diet-related chronic diseases.