ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1562110
Socioecological Correlates of Perceived Cooking Skills among Spanish Adolescents: The EHDLA Study
Provisionally accepted
- University of the Americas, Quito, Ecuador
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Individuals' perceptions of their cooking skills have been associated with healthier eating patterns. This study examines the socioecological factors associated with adolescents' cooking skills perceptions within a Spanish context. Key factors analyzed included sex, age, immigrant status, socioeconomic status, parental education, family structure, household size, schooling type, and area of residence. Methods: This research used data from adolescents aged 12-17 who took part of the Eating Healthy and Daily Life Activities (EHDLA) study (Region of Murcia, Spain). A chi-squared test and generalized linear models with binomial distribution were used to examine associations. Results: Perceptions of cooking skills varied among adolescents; 16.8% rated their cooking skills as very adequate. Perceived cooking skills were significantly associated with sex, socioeconomic status (SES), and type of schooling. Female adolescents had over twice the odds of perceiving their cooking skills as very adequate compared to males (odds ratio [OR] = 2.05, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.40-3.03, p < 0.001). Adolescents from medium and high SES backgrounds were significantly more likely to report very adequate cooking skills compared to those from low SES backgrounds (OR = 2.17, 95% CI: 1.20-4.13, p = 0.013; and OR = 3.57, 95% CI: 1.88-7.08, p < 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, attending a private school (with public funds) was associated with higher odds of perceiving cooking skills as very adequate compared to attending a public school (OR = 0.44, 95% CI: 0.24-0.76, p = 0.005).The findings from this study suggest the importance of attending the needs of specific groups such as male adolescents, those from lower SES backgrounds and those in publicly funded private schools. In addition, our results suggest the need to question the gender norms traditionally associated to cooking. Our results can help design interventions that enhance cooking skills among adolescents. These interventions can foster healthier eating habits and ultimately reduce diet-related conditions in adolescence and later in adulthood.
Keywords: Cooking, Cooking skills, Culinary competence, Food agency, food literacy
Received: 20 Jan 2025; Accepted: 25 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hermosa-Bosano and López-Gil. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Carlos Hermosa-Bosano, University of the Americas, Quito, Ecuador
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.