1. Middle-School Children (n = 29)
What Concerns & Questions Do Current Middle-School Children Have When It Comes to Nutrition
Erin Green, RD; Alisha Gaines, PhD; Tisa Fontaine Hill, MPH; Jamie S Dollahite, PhD
Division Of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University
This formative research explored the nutrition-related questions and concerns of current middle-school children. To date, few studies have explored nutrition and health perspectives of middle-school aged children, an important group given that many food-related behaviors and attitudes are being formed during this critical life stage. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 27 sixth to eighth grade students (12 male; 15 female) in New York State (14 rural; 13 urban). Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using conventional qualitative content analysis to examine: 1) participants’ questions regarding nutrition, 2) current sources of nutrition information, and 3) nutrition and related health concerns. Results indicated that over half the sample reported having no current questions related to food or drinks. The most frequently reported sources of nutrition information included parents and school instructors or coursework, and a few children also cited coaches or grandparents as important sources. While some children did report accessing nutrition information online, none could recall specific websites frequented, with the exception of internet search engines (i.e. Google). Children reported looking up information related to the specific contents and characteristics of foods. Common themes around nutrition and related health concerns included weight status. Dietary restrictions like food allergies and concerns about what others such as siblings or peers were eating were also reported by some children. When discussing their concerns, children often provided a rationale that was not scientifically sound, indicating the need for additional nutrition information or education. These findings suggest middle-school children without stated nutrition-related questions often still have important concerns that may not be adequately addressed with current nutrition information seeking behaviors. This represents a potential opportunity to 1) design and disseminate nutrition-related information targeted to both middle-school children and their primary information sources (i.e. parents and schools), and 2) increase awareness of appropriate platforms providing nutrition-related information.
Funded by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Grant no , USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Childhood Obesity Prevention: Integrated Research, Education, and Extension to Prevent Childhood Obesity – A2101.
307 - ASN ASN Community, Public Health and Global Nutrition
Results
INTRODUCTION
Discussion 1) 2) 3)
Over half the sample reported having NO current questions related to food or drinks, and questions typically related to the specific contents and characteristics of foods.
This formative research explored the nutrition- related questions, information sources, and concerns of current middle-school children.
To date, few studies have explored nutrition and health perspectives of middle-school aged children, an important group given that many food-related behaviors and attitudes are being formed during this critical life stage.
Few middle-school children reported having specific questions, which may be related to the direct nature of the interview question and/or their cognitive abilities. The emergence of concerns signifies children may have questions, but they are not able to readily articulate them.
Reported nutrition sources and information seeking behavior highlights the dynamic process of parent involvement. Parents are a primary information source, but also engage in information searches with their child in potentially important ways.
When discussing their concerns, participants often provided a rationale that was not scientifically sound, indicating the need for additional nutrition information or education.
This study was exploratory with a small sample size that limits generalizability.
Nope, I never have questions. (Male; 13yrs)
I don't know maybe like what's good for me and what's not. (Male; 10yrs) 
Like what's the difference between junk food and then like healthy food. (Female; 12yrs)
The most frequently reported sources of nutrition information included parents and school instructors/coursework.
A few children also cited coaches or grandparents as important sources, and some reported accessing nutrition information online but could not recall specific websites frequented.
methods
I asked my teacher like what if there was two different kinds of pasta and the same serving size, would they have different amounts of calories or something if nothing else is added. (Male, 12yrs)
If we have any questions like one time I made a cake and I only had two eggs when I needed 3 so my mom went on the internet and we found out that half of a banana equals one egg. (Female; 11yrs)
One-on-one, semi-structured interviews, conducted from 11/2014 – 02/2016 explored:
Participants’ questions regarding nutrition
Current sources of nutrition information
Nutrition and related health concerns of participants
Cornell Cooperative Extension staff recruited participants through programming, s, and flyers.
Inclusion criteria: English speaking children in 6th-8th grade in a New York State public school.
All interviews were transcribed verbatim, independently coded by 2 researchers, and analyzed in Atlas.ti using conventional qualitative content analysis.
A detailed coding protocol was created prior to analysis and code development and analysis were iterative.
Example questions related to nutrition information sources included:
What are some examples of places you go to get information about nutrition and healthy eating? (probes for person, place, and/or resource).
What questions do you have about health eating or nutrition?
We’re learning about the digestion and stuff… Cause we watched this movie Super Size Me. It was an influence not to eat a lot of McDonald’s. (Female; 13yrs)
My parents kind of cover that (Female; 12yrs)
Yeah and then if my dad doesn’t know the answer we have a Google-able moment and he goes up and he Googles it. He has like all these sites that he knows are good resources and we’ll click on it and he’ll be like here you go and makes your read the paragraph and then you know the answer. (Female; 12yrs)
conclusion
Kind of websites, I really don’t know the names.  I usually check in my history. (Male; 13yrs)
These findings suggest middle-school children without stated nutrition-related questions often still have important concerns that may not be adequately addressed with current nutrition information seeking behaviors.
Results from this formative work highlights a potential opportunity to:
1) Design and disseminate nutrition-related information targeted to both middle-school children and their primary information sources (i.e. parents & schools).
2) Increase awareness of appropriate platforms providing nutrition-related information.
Common themes around nutrition and related health concerns included weight status, dietary restrictions (i.e. food allergies), and concerns about what others (i.e. siblings or peers) were eating.
I'm fine I'm not allergic to anything… but my friends I have to make sure with them too and their parents. (Female; 11yrs)
I mean, I do eat healthy a lot because my mom wants me to and my dad too because my dad almost had a heart attack. (Male; 11yrs)
There’s this thing that I read about diets is that you have to switch up the foods you eat. But you can’t do it all the time, because then your immune system will get used to it and you won’t lose the weight. So I’ve been doing that, but I cut off all the junk food, I don’t like eating that. (Female; 11yrs)
Table 1: Participant Information
Middle-School Children (n = 29)
Sex
Male (n=12) / Female (n=17)
Area
Rural (n=14) / Urban (n=15)
Race
Black/AA (n= 6)
Caucasian (n= 17)
Native American (n= 1)
Other (n= 5)
Age
10 yrs old (n= 1)
11 yrs old (n= 8)
12 yrs old (n= 11)
13 yrs old (n= 9)
Like some of the boys in my grade will like buy two fries and a cookie and that will be their lunch… And I’m just like that’s, no, you probably shouldn’t do that. (Female; 12yrs)
This material is based upon work supported by U.S. Department of Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the USDA | Cornell Cooperative Extension provides equal program and employment opportunities.
But they (parents) do encourage not all junk food and I learned that after sixth grade because I was a little piggy. Interviewer: So you’ve changed some of your eating since you’ve been in junior high it sounds like? Yes, a lot! (Male; 13yrs)
Contact Information: Erin Green