Abstract
Objective
To determine the relationship between cooking and selected indicators of diet quality,
mental well-being, and family relationships.
Design
Data were collected as part of Youth’12, a nationally representative health and well-being survey.
Setting
Secondary schools in New Zealand.
Participants
A total of 8,500 students.
Main Outcome Measures
Cooking ability and frequency of cooking, nutritional behaviors, mental well-being,
depressive symptoms, and family connections.
Analysis
Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between cooking
ability/frequency and indicators of health and well-being, controlling for the sociodemographic
characteristics of students.
Results
Approximately 80% of students reported that they can cook a meal from basic ingredients
either fairly or very easily. Reported cooking ability was positively associated with
better nutritional indicators, better mental health indicators, and stronger family
connections (P = .01). For example, adolescents reporting the greatest cooking abilities were approximately
twice as likely to meet the recommendations for fruits and vegetables (odds ratio,
2.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.6–2.8). Likewise, adolescents reporting the greatest
cooking abilities also reported lower levels of depressive symptoms (P < .01) and greater mental well-being (P < .01) than those with less cooking ability. However, greater cooking ability was
also associated with higher body mass index (P < .01). Overall, similar statistically significant relationships were observed with
frequency of cooking, although not for young people who cook most days.
Conclusions and Implications
Learning to cook and having the opportunity to cook may provide a unique means for
adolescents to develop life skills and contribute positively to their families. Future
research examining the relationships between cooking and health may include measures
beyond nutrition, such as social relationships and emotional well-being.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 24, 2015
Accepted:
August 23,
2015
Footnotes
Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors' conflict of interest disclosures can be found online with this article on www.jneb.org.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
