MOTIVATIONS AND UNDERLYING FACTORS SHAPING FOOD CHOICES AMONG CULTURALLY DIVERSE YOUTH IN PAKISTAN: INSIGHTS FROM A QUALITATIVE STUDY

Abstract

Food choices among young people reflect more than hunger or nutritional need; they are shaped by cultural meanings, social relationships, personal preferences, mood and the environmental settings. This study explored the motivations and underlying factors influenc food choices among culturally diverse youth in Pakistan. A phenomenologically informed exploratory qualitative design was used within an interpretivist and constructivist framework. Thirty-three young adults aged 18–29 years from Punjabi, Saraiki, Muhajir/Urdu-speaking, Pashtun, Sindhi, Balochi, and Gilgit-Baltistani communities were recruited through purposive sampling strategy. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews conducted using an interview protocol that was developed through external expert evaluation and a pilot study. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, translated into English and analyzed using Braun and Clarke's (2006, 2021) six-phase reflexive thematic analysis. Four interrelated themes were emerged: cultural identity and food heritage; social and environmental influences; motivations underlying food choices; and lifestyle adaptation and health behavior. Traditional foods conveyed belonging, hospitality, religious observance, family care, and continuity across generations. Choices were also negotiated through family routines, peer relationships, digital media, price, availability, institutional settings, and access to cooking. Although taste was prominent, its importance shifted alongside health, hunger, familiarity, emotions, bodily experience, convenience, season, timing, and past experience. Moving beyond the home and urban settings required pragmatic adaptation, while attachment to familiar foods and health aims often remained. The findings revealed food choice as a context-dependent intercession among identity, relationships, embodied preferences, and feasible options. Overall the findings add to the growing body of literature by providing culturally-based insights that have implications for nutrition and health promotion psychologists, nutrition educators, healthcare practitioners, public health practitioners, and policy makers on how to design culturally responsive nutrition and health promotion interventions. Future research should consider younger adolescents and longitudinal/ mix method studies to examine how changes occur across major life transitions.