1.11 - Understanding Children and Adolescents as Catalysts for Food Systems Change: A Methodological Perspective

Summary

Children and adolescents are increasingly recognized as active agents in shaping food systems, with the potential to influence dietary patterns, household decisions, and broader socio-cultural norms. This chapter explores methodological approaches for studying youth as catalysts for food system transformation, emphasizing the need for developmentally appropriate, ethically sound, and contextually relevant tools. Drawing on systems thinking and socio-ecological models, the chapter outlines how children and adolescents interact with food environments across multiple levels—from individual preferences and emotional responses to external influences such as marketing and policy. A range of methods is reviewed, including sensory and hedonic testing, food literacy assessments, participatory co-creation techniques, and systems-level evaluations. These approaches are adapted to their cognitive and emotional development, and include new tools such as gamification, emoji-based emotion mapping, and implicit motivation tasks. The chapter also addresses the role of socio-cultural norms and peer dynamics, highlighting the importance of qualitative and mixed-methods designs to capture young consumers lived experiences. Ethical and practical recommendations are provided to guide researchers in designing inclusive and empowering studies. The chapter concludes by reaffirming the role of children and adolescents as co-creators of healthier and more sustainable food systems and calls for future research and policy to integrate youth perspectives more systematically. By positioning children and adolescents not merely as subjects but as stakeholders, this work contributes to a more equitable and transformative vision of food system change.

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DOI : doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-443-291...
NVA : hdl.handle.net/11250/5574832