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Eating for honour: A cultural-ecological analysis of food behaviours among adolescent girls in the southern plains of Nepal

Access to adequate and nutritious food is important for the current and future health of adolescent girls. Interventions often focus on the individual as responsible for their own health ignoring the complex structural issues that underlie optimal nutrition. In South Asia gender inequalities have be...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Morrison, Joanna, Basnet, Machhindra, Sharma, Neha
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10437861/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37594955
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290405
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author Morrison, Joanna
Basnet, Machhindra
Sharma, Neha
author_facet Morrison, Joanna
Basnet, Machhindra
Sharma, Neha
author_sort Morrison, Joanna
collection PubMed
description Access to adequate and nutritious food is important for the current and future health of adolescent girls. Interventions often focus on the individual as responsible for their own health ignoring the complex structural issues that underlie optimal nutrition. In South Asia gender inequalities have been noted as an important determinant of poor nutrition among women and their young children, but analysis of adolescent girls’ diets and what influences these are rarely undertaken. Therefore, we sought to analyse the factors affecting what and where girls’ eat and what affects their behaviour in the plains of Nepal, using a cultural-ecological approach. We analysed a secondary qualitative dataset of focus group discussions with adolescent girls aged 12–19 years old, young mothers, mothers-in-law, and older female key informants. Eating was heavily influenced by patriarchal norms. Boys had preferential access to food, money, and freedom of movement to appreciate their future role in providing for the family. Food was an investment, and boys were perceived to have more nutritional need than girls. Girls were not perceived to be a good return on investment of food, and eating practices sought to prepare them for life as a subservient daughter-in-law and wife. Obedience and sacrifice were valued in girls, and they were expected to eat less and do more housework than boys. Girls’ eating and behaviour was constrained to maintain self and family honour. Interventions should acknowledge cultural influences on eating and engage multiple actors in addressing harmful gender norms which limit eating and prevent girls from reaching their potential.
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spelling pubmed-104378612023-08-19 Eating for honour: A cultural-ecological analysis of food behaviours among adolescent girls in the southern plains of Nepal Morrison, Joanna Basnet, Machhindra Sharma, Neha PLoS One Research Article Access to adequate and nutritious food is important for the current and future health of adolescent girls. Interventions often focus on the individual as responsible for their own health ignoring the complex structural issues that underlie optimal nutrition. In South Asia gender inequalities have been noted as an important determinant of poor nutrition among women and their young children, but analysis of adolescent girls’ diets and what influences these are rarely undertaken. Therefore, we sought to analyse the factors affecting what and where girls’ eat and what affects their behaviour in the plains of Nepal, using a cultural-ecological approach. We analysed a secondary qualitative dataset of focus group discussions with adolescent girls aged 12–19 years old, young mothers, mothers-in-law, and older female key informants. Eating was heavily influenced by patriarchal norms. Boys had preferential access to food, money, and freedom of movement to appreciate their future role in providing for the family. Food was an investment, and boys were perceived to have more nutritional need than girls. Girls were not perceived to be a good return on investment of food, and eating practices sought to prepare them for life as a subservient daughter-in-law and wife. Obedience and sacrifice were valued in girls, and they were expected to eat less and do more housework than boys. Girls’ eating and behaviour was constrained to maintain self and family honour. Interventions should acknowledge cultural influences on eating and engage multiple actors in addressing harmful gender norms which limit eating and prevent girls from reaching their potential. Public Library of Science 2023-08-18 /pmc/articles/PMC10437861/ /pubmed/37594955 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290405 Text en © 2023 Morrison et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Morrison, Joanna
Basnet, Machhindra
Sharma, Neha
Eating for honour: A cultural-ecological analysis of food behaviours among adolescent girls in the southern plains of Nepal
title Eating for honour: A cultural-ecological analysis of food behaviours among adolescent girls in the southern plains of Nepal
title_full Eating for honour: A cultural-ecological analysis of food behaviours among adolescent girls in the southern plains of Nepal
title_fullStr Eating for honour: A cultural-ecological analysis of food behaviours among adolescent girls in the southern plains of Nepal
title_full_unstemmed Eating for honour: A cultural-ecological analysis of food behaviours among adolescent girls in the southern plains of Nepal
title_short Eating for honour: A cultural-ecological analysis of food behaviours among adolescent girls in the southern plains of Nepal
title_sort eating for honour: a cultural-ecological analysis of food behaviours among adolescent girls in the southern plains of nepal
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10437861/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37594955
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0290405
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