ABSTRACT
Background
Despite national attention to the childhood obesity epidemic, there are few US-based studies that directly ask children—especially children from low-income families and from multiple racial/ethnic groups—why they do or do not engage in healthy eating behaviors.
Objective
The purpose of this study was to identify motiva- tors of and barriers to healthy eating behaviors, as reported by black, Hispanic, and white children from low-income families.
Method
Six gender- and race/ethnicity-concordant focus groups were conducted with 37 children who were aged 9 to 12 years and from families with an annual household income of $40000 or less. Multiple strategies were used to employ a culturally sensitive approach to both data col- lection and data analysis (eg, a team of culturally diverse researchers utilized inductive qualitative analysis to analyze focus group transcripts).
Results
The motivators of and barriers to healthy eating behaviors most commonly reported across the 6 focus groups included social influence, taste, issues of availability, weight concerns, and the desire to be healthy. A variety of less commonly reported motivators and barriers were also discussed. Findings were generally similar across gender and race/ethnicity.
Conclusions
Children in this age range can indeed iden- tify a variety of motivators and barriers that influence their engagement in healthy eating behaviors. Interventions targeting obesity and eating behaviors should include an assessment of children’s own perceived motivators of and barriers to healthy eating.