Appetite 50 (2008) 325–332 Research Report Autonomy and control: The co-construction of adolescent food choice Raewyn Bassett a,Ã , Gwen E. Chapman b , Brenda L. Beagan a a School of Occupational Therapy, Dalhousie University, Forrest Building, Room 215, 5869 University Avenue, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3J5 b Department of Food, Nutrition and Health, University of British Columbia, 2205 East Mall, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z4 Received 3 April 2007; received in revised form 14 August 2007; accepted 24 August 2007 Abstract We explored how adolescents and parents negotiate adolescents’ increasing food choice autonomy in European Canadian, Punjabi Canadian and African Canadian families. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 47 adolescents and their parents, participant observation at a family meal and a grocery shopping trip with the family shopper(s). Thematic and constant comparative analyses were used. Adolescents exercised considerable autonomy over much of their food choice and their parents monitored and controlled the environment within which adolescents were given independence and responsibility. Parents used strategies of coaxing, coaching and coercing, while teens responded by complaining, ignoring and refusing their parents’ advice. At the same time, teens took responsibility and reflected on their behaviours while keeping in mind their parents’ advice, even if in some cases they were as yet unable to act upon it. Food choice autonomy is not simply a negative act of teenage defiance. Instead, it is actively co-constructed by both teens and their parents as each resists and responds to the others. Studies of adolescent autonomy related to food choices, and interventions based on nutritional autonomy as a risk factor for poor nutrition would do well to take account of the co-constructive parent–adolescent process of teen autonomy. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Adolescent; Food decision making; Autonomy; Co-construction. Introduction During adolescence, individuals develop responsibility for health-related behaviours and attitudes that affect their future (Milligan et al., 1997; Neumark-Sztainer, Story, Perry, & Casey, 1999). Food-related attitudes and beha- viours are particularly important during these years (Cavadini et al., 1999; Story, Neumark-Sztainer, & French, 2002) since eating habits developed at this time continue into adulthood (Videon & Manning, 2003). Adolescents have a reputation for unhealthy food choices (Cavadini et al., 1999; Story et al., 2002), and interventions have had mixed success (Lytle, 1995). Research has found that adolescents understand at an abstract level the healthiness of certain foods but have limited concern about the future (Bissonnette & Contento, 2001). Their eating habits tend to be characterized by frequent snacking, skipping meals, junk food consumption and consistently low intake of milk, fruits and vegetables (Cavadini et al., 1999; Chapman & Maclean, 1993; Pe´res-Llamas, Garaulet, Nieto, Baraza, & Zamora, 1996; Samuelson, Bratteby, Enghardt, & Hedgren, 1996; Watt & Sheiham, 1996). Multiple psycho-social and environmental factors influ- ence teenagers’ food choices (Cavadini et al., 1999; Story et al., 2002), including hunger, mood, preferences, appeal, time demands, convenience and cost (Bissonnette & Contento, 2001; Neumark-Sztainer et al., 1999). The family context is seen as a key influence on teens’ diets, as eating behaviours are embedded in, and influenced by the family (De Bourdeaudhuij & Sallis, 2002). How parents encourage their children to eat helps shape teens’ food preferences and consumption patterns (Kremers, Brug, de Vries, & Rutger, 2003; Patrick, Nicklas, Hughes, & Morales, 2005). The preparation of meals by parents and their insistence on family meals encourage healthy adolescent eating habits (Hannon, Bowen, Moinpour, & McLerran, 2003). On the other hand, teens pester their parents for junk food (Lee & Collins, 2000), bargain and negotiate, persuade and manipulate, use emotion and make outright demands to ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/appet 0195-6663/$ - see front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2007.08.009 Ã Corresponding author. E-mail address: rbassett@dal.ca (R. Bassett).