Gender plays a role in adolescents’ dietary behaviors as they transition to secondary school

Little research explores how changes in adolescents' peer, family and school environments may influence dietary behaviors during the shift from elementary school to secondary school and whether boys and girls experience these changes in similar ways. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner's socio-ecological model and Ridgeway's gendered framework, thematic analysis of twenty-seven semi-structured interviews with parent-adolescent dyads reveals that changes in adolescents' peer, family and school environments affect dietary behaviors following the transition in gendered ways. Within the peer context, food facilitates friendships among girls. Girls use food to forge intimate relationships with their peers whereas boys do not report relying on their peers to influence their dietary choices. In the family environment, gender-based body ideals (i.e., being strong and fit for boys versus being thin for girls) become more apparent and influential over adolescents' dietary behaviors. In some families, parents oppose gender-based body ideals (i.e., food restriction among girls) whereas in others, parents' expectations around food become supportive of gendered norms (i.e., encouraging food consumption among boys to gain muscle or acquiring food literacy skills among girls). Within the school context, socializing emerges as a key priority above eating at lunchtime, but boys and girls engage in this socialization differently. Girls use their lunch hour to socialize with peers through sedentary activities whereas boys socialize through team sports. In summary, gender plays a role in how changes in the peer, family and school environments influence boys' and girls' dietary behaviors as they transition into secondary school. Future public health interventions should consider using a targeted gender approach to encourage adolescents to make healthier food choices.