RT Journal Article
T1 School principals' perceptions of adolescents' eating behaviors in two Spanish cities: a qualitative study based on the neo-ecological theory
A1 González Salgado, Ignacio de Loyola
A1 Rivera Navarro, Jesús
A1 Díez Escudero, Julia
A1 Gravina Alfonso, Leyre
AB Understanding of the social and environmental factors that shape adolescents’ eating behaviors is a prerequisitefor developing effective and evidence-based public health interventions. School principals, given their profoundcomprehension of the internal and external dynamics of schools, serve as key informants in this context. Our aimwas to investigate, through the lens of neo-ecological theory, the perceptions of school principals regardingadolescents’ eating behaviors in two Spanish cities. We conducted 12 interviews with key informants –sevenwomen and five men– who worked as school principals of socioeconomically diverse schools in Madrid andBilbao. The analysis employed a neo-ecological theoretical framework in conjunction with Corbin and Strauss’sgrounded theory coding strategies. At the microsystem level, the absence of family meals and the social mediadrivenbeauty standards shaped adolescents’ eating behaviors. At the mesosystem level, interactions betweenhome and school food environments played a key role. At the exosystem level, schools faced structural barriers toimplementing health promotion strategies. At the macrosystem level, the food industry exerted influence throughfood delivery services and the promotion of unhealthy foods, affecting adolescents’ dietary choices both at schooland at home. These findings highlight the need for public health interventions to go beyond the school and familyenvironments, addressing the growing impact of virtual environments and the food industry on adolescents’eating behaviors.
PB Elsevier
SN 0195-6663
SN 1095-8304 (electrónico)
YR 2025
FD 2025-04
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25506
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25506
LA eng
NO González-Salgado, I. de L., Rivera-Navarro, J., Díez, J., & Gravina, L. (2025). School principals’ perceptions of adolescents’ eating behaviors in two Spanish cities: a qualitative study based on the neo-ecological theory. In Appetite (Vol. 212, p. 108013). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2025.108013
NO This research is part of the project “Dietary behaviours and in equalities in adolescents: A qualitative study in secondary schools in Madrid and Bilbao” (reference PID2020-113537RB-I00) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Huelva/CBUA.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026