Abstract

SILVEIRA, Cláudia Lilian Witt da; HENN, Ruth Liane  and  GONCALVES, Tonantzin Ribeiro. Healthy eating in childhood: Social representations of families and children in school age. Aletheia [online]. 2019, vol.52, n.2, pp.80-95. ISSN 1413-0394.

The study investigated social representations about healthy eating of families and children in school-age. It was a multiple study-case, using semi-structured interviews and children's drawings. Participated eight families from middle and low socioeconomic class, among whom five had food safety and three had unsafe food indicators. The analysis revealed that the history of countryside eating habits was remembered by parents as a difficult time, but considered healthier. Although families pointed toward a normalized healthy eating discourse, both proximal and distal strengths push their actual eating habits on other direction. The easy access to unhealthy foods and financial constraints were linked with the busy life and the pleasure associated with "junk food" consumption as a way out of routine and to get satisfaction. These findings indicate the representations about healthy eating embrace different child's sociability contexts and are influenced by the families' historical and cultural context, challenging notions based on formal knowledge.

Keywords : Food Habits; Students; Social representation.

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