Food, obesity and families : practices in Irish households with young children

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the socially constructed meaning of food, ‘healthy eating’, and obesity within the context of family food practices in a sample of middle-class Irish families with young children. The analysis is undertaken in the context of Irish State and media attention to ‘healthy eating’ and obesity as social problems in the mid-2000s. The research focuses on participants’ constructions of meaning related to food, ‘healthy eating’ and obesity within the realities of their everyday food and body weight practices, including the interpretative activities used by participants to create or understand these issues as social problems. To investigate these aims, this thesis used a qualitatively-driven mixed methods approach based on semi-structured qualitative interviews, a structured food diary and questionnaires for sampling purposes. Interviews were carried out with 16 middle class Irish families living together in a household, each with a 6-8 year old child. Each family member completed a food diary and was subsequently interviewed, including all children age 5 and over in the household.