- Karina Bauer Munch-Andersen
- Pernille Kristensen
- Sarah Vejlgaard
4. term, Integrated Food Studies (cand.tech.), Master (Master Programme)
Background: Non-stop accessibility and availability of information about healthy food in overwhelming quantities, in particular from media and social media, makes the process of finding trustworthy information about healthy food hard for young adult Danes. Simultaneously, previous studies have shown young adult Danes to have poor dietary habits.
Purpose: This thesis will illuminate a group of young adult Danes’ perception of healthy food, to see if this target group lack of knowledge about healthy food. Moreover, whether the life circumstance that the target group is currently in influences their perception and practical relation to healthy food will be investigated. Since this transition phase have been found to be a time where the young adult Danes need to establish their own everyday practice, which includes rethinking and reconstructing their perception and relationship with food.
Finally, the thesis will investigate where young adult Danes tend to find information about healthy food, in order to find out which sources they are most likely to search information from and who they trust the most.
Methods: This study is based on an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach. Four focus groups interviews were held with 16 young adult Danes in the age of 18-25, all living independently. Additionally, a questionnaire with 449 respondents was carried out to get a more nuanced view of the investigated problem area.
Findings: The participants’ perception of healthy food is in agreement with the Danish official dietary guidelines. They are reflective and critical when searching information about healthy food. However, they feel a need for filtering information from various actors before trusting it.
Integrating healthy food in their everyday life is to a great extent not a top priority because of the challenges connected to it. The fact that the young adult Danes are in a transition phase, from living with their parents to living independently does not directly affect their perception of healthy food, but to a great extent affects their health behaviour.
Keywords: Healthy food, Transition, Trustworthiness, Likelihood, Young adults, Perceptions.
Purpose: This thesis will illuminate a group of young adult Danes’ perception of healthy food, to see if this target group lack of knowledge about healthy food. Moreover, whether the life circumstance that the target group is currently in influences their perception and practical relation to healthy food will be investigated. Since this transition phase have been found to be a time where the young adult Danes need to establish their own everyday practice, which includes rethinking and reconstructing their perception and relationship with food.
Finally, the thesis will investigate where young adult Danes tend to find information about healthy food, in order to find out which sources they are most likely to search information from and who they trust the most.
Methods: This study is based on an exploratory sequential mixed methods approach. Four focus groups interviews were held with 16 young adult Danes in the age of 18-25, all living independently. Additionally, a questionnaire with 449 respondents was carried out to get a more nuanced view of the investigated problem area.
Findings: The participants’ perception of healthy food is in agreement with the Danish official dietary guidelines. They are reflective and critical when searching information about healthy food. However, they feel a need for filtering information from various actors before trusting it.
Integrating healthy food in their everyday life is to a great extent not a top priority because of the challenges connected to it. The fact that the young adult Danes are in a transition phase, from living with their parents to living independently does not directly affect their perception of healthy food, but to a great extent affects their health behaviour.
Keywords: Healthy food, Transition, Trustworthiness, Likelihood, Young adults, Perceptions.
| Language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 8 Jun 2017 |
| Number of pages | 125 |