Codevelopment of Healthy and Unhealthy Dietary Behaviors: A Dyadic Examination of Parenting Practices and Adolescent Characteristics

Abstract Objective To identify the pathways through which external, parental, and adolescent factors influence adolescents’ motivation to adopt healthy dietary behaviors. Methods A total of 28 ethnically and socioeconomically diverse (25% White) families were interviewed in which adolescents (mean age = 12.7 years; 50% girls) and parents (mean age = 43.3 years; 68% mothers) were interviewed separately. Data were first analyzed thematically, and family summaries, supplemented with diagrams, were then used to identify the processes through which factors influenced adolescents’ dietary behaviors. Results The analyses identified 3 main motivational pathways (intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and amotivation), wherein variability and inconsistencies were observed across and within pathways. The unique combination of external factors, parenting profiles, as well as adolescents’ willingness to be socialized by family members, differentiated these pathways from each other. Conclusions and Implications Health interventions need to target the overall approaches that parents use to socialize their adolescent to make healthy food choices instead of targeting specific parenting practices.