Informal mealtime pedagogies: exploring the influence of family structure on young people's healthy eating dispositions

Abstract

Families are increasingly recognised as informal sites of learning, especially with regard to healthy eating. Through the use of Bourdieu's conceptual tools, this paper explores the role of family meals within different family structures and the informal pedagogic encounters that take place. How they help to construct young people's healthy eating beliefs, values and dispositions, together with what influences their ability to conduct healthy lifestyle practices within different social and material conditions, is also considered. This study draws from semi-structured interviews with students (n=62) from three inner city comprehensive schools in the Midlands, UK, who were invited to interview with a friend from the same family structure. The interview protocol sought to uncover how often young people ate with their family and elicit their subjective views of family meals as a social context (pedagogical field) in which health messages were conveyed. Corresponding interview data were analysed using thematic analysis which revealed two main themes: (1) the importance of family meals as a pedagogic context for the (re)production of health-related beliefs, values and dispositions; and (2) the influence of family structure on individual agency. The narratives illustrate the varying role of family meals for young people in different fields and suggest that family (as a primary field) with its particular practices can act as a site of informal pedagogy, but crucially, only for those whose social and material conditions allow. We should therefore not assume that family meals are 'normative' for all families and may serve different functions for different families. Hence, in a period of economic depression and prolonged austerity, encouraging family units of any structure to invest in family meals from an early age will help to enhance young people's healthy dispositions.

Self-determination theory and food-related parenting: The Parent Socioemotional Context of Feeding Questionnaire.

“…Although the concept of structure in the family in relation to eating has received some attention (e.g., Berge, Jin, Hannan, & Neumark-Sztainer, 2013; Quarmby & Dagkas, 2013), chaotic parenting practices, specifically, have received less attention. Chaos is more often operationalized as household chaos, linking it with lower SES or poorer child adjustment (e.g., Evans, Gonnella, Marcynyszyn, Gentile, & Salpekar, 2005; Martin, Razza, & Brooks-Gunn, 2012; Wang, Deater-Deckard, & Bell, 2013).…”

Youth Centres as Foodscapes and Informal Learning Environments in Finland

“…53–54). The importance of family meals and the time allocated for shared meals may vary between families (Quarmby & Dagkas, 2015, pp. 334–336), although the healthiness of food is rarely the main priority (Palojoki & Tuomi-Gröhn, 2001, p. 21).…”

Teachers in school sports: between the fields of education and sport?

“…A field is occupied by specialized agents and institutions (Broady, 1990), and to gain access to a field or a position within the field, a specific holding of capital is required. Quarmby and Dagkas (2013) argued that the possession of capital will determine the range of available choices within a specific field. However, what this capital consists of differs between different (sub-) fields and depends on who is in power in the field (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992).…”

“…Cushion, Armour, & Jones, 2003;Pang, Macdonald, & Hay, 2013); second, it has been widely applied in diverse empirical research studies in the fields of education and sport (cf. Backman, 2010;Brown, 2005;Fulton, 2011;Green, 2002;Hunter, 2004;Quarmby & Dagkas, 2013;Redelius, Fagrell, & Larsson, 2009;Stuij, 2013). The core of Bourdieu's theoretical framework consists of the three closely related concepts of field, capital, and habitus (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992;Broady, 1990;Brown, 2005).…”