Most children and adolescents do not meet dietary recommendations that may result in poor diets contributing to obesity. This systematic literature review was conducted to examine associations between helping with meal preparation at home and dietary quality, intake of specific foods, and/or dietary-related perceptions among youth. A search of databases using key terms was conducted for studies meeting criteria. This literature review included 15 studies using a cross-sectional descriptive design, with two studies also including a longitudinal design. Data were self-reported (or parent-reported) using various surveys and/or interviews. Study findings supported positive associations between youth involvement in home meal preparation and improvement in overall dietary quality, increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, greater preference for vegetables, and higher self-efficacy for cooking and choosing healthy foods. Further research is needed to develop efficacious meal preparation interventions involving parents and their children to promote this mealtime behavior with many potential health benefits.
AveryA.AndersonC.McCulloughF. (2017). Associations between children’s diet quality and watching television during meal or snack consumption: A systematic review. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 13. doi:10.1111/mcn.12428
2.
BanduraA. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
3.
BanduraA. (2004). Health promotion by social cognitive means. Health Education & Behavior, 31, 143–164. doi:10.1177/1090198104263660
4.
BergeJ. M.MacLehoseR. F.LarsonN.LaskaM.Neumark-SztainerD. (2016). Family food preparation and its effects on adolescent dietary quality and eating patterns. Journal of Adolescent Health, 59, 530–536. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.06.007
5.
BriefelR.WilsonA.GleasonP. (2009). Consumption of low-nutrient, energy-dense foods and beverages at school, home, and other locations among school lunch participants and nonparticipants. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 109, S79–S90. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2008.10.064
6.
BrooksN.BegleyA. (2014). Adolescent food literacy programmes: A review of the literature. Nutrition & Dietetics, 71, 158–171. doi:10.1111/1747-0080.12096
7.
CarlsonM. A.MorrisonR. S. (2009). Study design, precision, and validity in observational studies. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 12, 77–82. doi:10.1089/jpm.2008.9690
ChuY. L.FarmerA.FungC.KuhleS.StoreyK.VeugelersP. (2013). Involvement in home meal preparation is associated with food preference and self-efficacy among Canadian children. Public Health Nutrition, 16, 108–112. doi:10.1017/S1368980012001218
11.
ChuY. L.StoreyK. E.VeugelersP. J. (2014). Involvement in meal preparation at home is associated with better diet quality among Canadian children. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 46, 304–308. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2013.10.003
12.
de JongE.VisscherT. S.HiraSingR. A.SeidellJ. C.RendersC. M. (2014). Home environmental determinants of children’s fruit and vegetable consumption across different SES backgrounds. Pediatric Obesity, 10, 134–140. doi:10.1111/ijpo.243
13.
DraxtenM.FulkersonJ. A.FriendS.FlattumC. F.SchowR. (2014). Parental role modeling of fruits and vegetables at meals and snacks is associated with children’s adequate consumption. Appetite, 781–787. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2014.02.017
14.
Fineout-OverholdE.MelnykB.StillwellS.WilliamsonK. (2010). Critical appraisal of the evidence: Part 1: An introduction to gathering, evaluating, and recording the evidence. American Journal of Nursing, 110, 47–52.
15.
FinkS. K.RacineE. F.MueffelmannR. E.DeanM. N.Herman-SmithR. (2014). Family meals and diet quality among children and adolescents in North Carolina. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior, 46, 418–422. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2014.05.004
16.
FulkersonJ. A.LarsonN.HorningM.Neumark-SztainerD. (2015). A review of associations between family or shared meal frequency and dietary and weight status outcomes across the lifespan. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior, 46, 2–19. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2013.07.012
17.
GuentherP. M.CasavaleK. O.ReedyJ.KirkpatrickS. I.HizaH. A.KuczynskiK. J.…Krebs-SmithS. M. (2013). Update of the healthy eating index: HEI-2010. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics, 113, 569–580.
KimS.HainesP. S.Siega-RizA. M.PopkinB. M. (2003). The Diet Quality Index-International (DQI-I) provides an effective tool for cross-national comparison of diet quality as illustrated by China and the United States. The Journal of Nutrition, 133, 3476–3484.
20.
KimS. A.MooreL. V.GaluskaD.WrightA. P.HarrisD.Grummer-StrawnL. M.…RhodesD. G. (2014). Vital signs: Fruit and vegetable intake among children—United States, 2003–2010. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved fromhttps://www.cdc.gov/Mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6331a3.htm
21.
LamC.McHaleS.UpdegraffK. (2012). Gender dynamics in Mexican American families: Connecting mothers’, fathers’ and youths’ experiences. Sex Roles, 67, 17–28. doi:10.1007/s11199-012-0137-3
22.
LarsonN.StoryM.EisenbergM.Neumark-SztainerD. (2006). Food preparation and purchasing roles among adolescents: Associations with sociodemographic characteristics and diet quality. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 106, 211–218.
23.
LealF. M.de OliveiraB. M.PereiraS. S. (2011). Relationship between cooking habits and skills and Mediterranean diet in a sample of Portuguese adolescents. Perspectives in Public Health, 131, 283–287. doi:10.1177/1757913911419909
24.
LeechR. M.McNaughtonS. A.CrawfordD. A.CampbellK. J.PearsonN.TimperioA. (2014). Family food involvement and frequency of family dinner meals among Australian children aged 10–12years. Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with dietary patterns. Appetite, 7564–7570. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2013.12.021
25.
MaG. (2015). Food, eating behavior, and culture in Chinese society. Journal of Ethnic Foods, 2, 195–199.
26.
MarzukiM. A.RahmanS. (2015). Parental involvement: A strategy that influences a child’s health related behavior. Health Science Journal, 10, 1–7.
27.
MelnykB. M.Fineout-OverholtE. (2015). Evidence-based practice in nursing and healthcare: A guide to best practice (3rd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
28.
MetcalfeJ. J.FieseB. H. (2018). Family food involvement is related to healthier dietary intake in preschool-aged children. Appetite, 126, 195–200. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2018.03.021
29.
MiketinasD.CaterM.BaileyA.CraftB.TuuriG. (2016). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis of the adolescent motivation to cook questionnaire: A self-determination theory instrument. Appetite, 105, 527–533. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2016.06.024
30.
MistryS. K.PuthusseryS. (2015). Risk factors of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence in South Asian countries: A systematic review of the evidence. Public Health, 129, 200–209. doi:10.1016/j.puhe.2014.12.004
31.
MoherD.LiberatiA.TetzlaffJ.AltmanD. (2009). Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 62, 1006–1012. doi:10.1016/j.jclinei.2009.06.005
32.
Mura ParocheM.CatonS. J.VereijkenC. L.WeenenH.Houston-PriceC. (2017). How infants and young children learn about food: A systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1046. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01046
33.
NaskaA.TrichopoulouA. (2014). Back to the future: The Mediterranean diet paradigm. Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Diseases, 24, 216–219. doi:10.1016/j.numecd.2013.11.007
NozueM.IshidaH.HazanoS.NakanishiA.YamamotoT.AbeA.…MurayamaN. (2016). Associations between Japanese schoolchildren’s involvement in at-home meal preparation, their food intakes, and cooking skills. Nutrition Research and Practice, 10, 359–363. doi:10.4162/nrp.2016.10.3.359
37.
OakleyA. R.NelsonS. A.Nickols-RichardsonS. M. (2017). Peer-led culinary skills intervention for adolescents: Pilot study of the impact on knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior, 49, 852–857.e1.
38.
OgdenC. L.CarrollM. D.LawmanH. G.FryarC. D.Kruszon-MoranD.KitB. K.FlegalK. M. (2016). Trends in obesity prevalence among children and adolescents in the United States, 1988 through 2013–2014. Journal of the American Medical Association, 315, 2292–2299. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.6361
39.
OvercashF.RitterA.MannT.MykereziE.ReddenJ.RendahlA.…ReicksM. (2018). Positive impacts of a vegetable cooking skills program among low-income parents and children. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior, 50, 432–440. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2017.10.016
40.
Randall SimpsonJ.KellerH.RysdaleL.BeyersJ. (2008). Nutrition Screening Tool for Every Preschooler (NutriSTEP): Validation and test-retest reliability of a parent-administered questionnaire assessing nutrition risk of preschoolers. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 62, 770–780.
41.
ResnicowK.Davis-HearnM.SmithM.BaranowskiT.LinL. S.BaranowskiJ.…WangD. T. (1997). Social-cognitive predictors of fruit and vegetable intake in children. Health Psychology, 16, 272–276. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.16.3.272
42.
RosárioR.PereiraB.AraújoA.PadrãoP.MoreiraA.MoreiraP.LopesO. (2017). Health promotion intervention to improve diet quality in children. Health Promotion Practice, 18, 253–262. doi:10.1177/1524839916634096
43.
SahooK.SahooB.ChoudhuryA. K.SofiN. Y.KumarR.BhadoriaA. S. (2015). Childhood obesity: Causes and consequences. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 4, 187–192. doi:10.4103/2249-4863.154628
44.
SattlerM.HopkinsL.SteevesE. A.CristelloA.HurleyK.McCloskeyM.…GittlesohnJ. (2015). Characteristics of youth food preparation in low-income, African American homes: Associations with healthy eating index scores. Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 54, 380–396. doi:10.1080/03670244.2014.1001982.
45.
Serra-MajemL.RibasL.NgoJ.OrtegaR.GarcíaA.Pérez-RodrigoC.…ArancetaJ. (2004). Food, youth and the Mediterranean diet in Spain. Development of KIDMED, Mediterranean diet quality index in children and adolescents. Public Health Nutrition, 7, 931–935.
46.
SetiaM. S. (2016). Methodology series module 3: Cross-sectional studies. Indian Journal of Dermatology, 61, 261–264. doi:10.4103/0019-5154.182410
47.
ShimJ. E.KimJ.LeeY. (2016). Fruit and vegetable intakes of preschool children are associated with feeding practices facilitating internalization of extrinsic motivation. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior, 48, 311–317.e1. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2016.01.003
48.
ShortM.GoetzelR.PeiX.TabriziM.OzminkowskiR.GibsonT.…WilsonM. (2009). How accurate are self-reports? Analysis of self-reported health care utilization and absence when compared with administrative data. Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine, 51, 786–796. doi:10.1097/JOM.0b013e3181a86671
49.
UgaldeM.BrandL.BeltranA.DadabhoyH.ChenT.O’ConnorT. M.…BaranowskiJ. (2017). Mommio’s recipe box: Assessment of the cooking habits of mothers of preschoolers and their perceptions of recipes for a video game. JMIR Serious Games, 5, e20. doi:10.2196/games.8142
50.
VaitkeviciuteR.BallL. E.HarrisN. (2015). The relationship between food literacy and dietary intake in adolescents: A systematic review. Public Health Nutrition, 18, 649–658. doi:10.1017/S1368980014000962
51.
van der HorstK.FerrageA.RytzA. (2014). Involving children in meal preparation. Effects on food intake. Appetite, 79, 18–24. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2014.03.030
52.
VollmerR. L.BaiettoJ. (2017). Practices and preferences: Exploring the relationships between food-related parenting practices and child food preferences for high fat and/or sugar foods, fruits, and vegetables. Appetite, 113, 134–140. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2017.02.019
53.
WatterworthJ. C.HutchinsonJ. M.BuchholzA. C.DarlingtonG.Randall SimpsonJ. A.MaD. W.HainesJ. (2017). Food parenting practices and their association with child nutrition risk status: Comparing mothers and fathers. Applied Physiology, Nutrition & Metabolism, 42, 667–671. doi:10.1139/apnm-2016-0572
54.
WoodruffS. J.KirbyA. R. (2013). The associations among family meal frequency, food preparation frequency, self-efficacy for cooking, and food preparation techniques in children and adolescents. Journal of Nutrition Education & Behavior, 45, 296–303. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2012.11.006
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
