Background Adolescence is a transitional period of great change, including mental, physical, and social developments. Adolescents will experience a period of rapid growth which requires increased nutritional intake. This is also a time when lifelong habits are formed. Therefore, it is vital that positive, healthy, and sustainable dietary habits are established. Adolescents experience many different environments which influence their food choices, and the current generation is exposed to obesogenic food environments unlike any before them. Greater independence during adolescence allows individuals to be more in control of their food choices.

Methods The aim of this study was to understand the factors that influence adolescent food choices within the secondary school food environment. This study was qualitative and was conducted in a secondary school in Hampshire, semi-structured focus-groups and a singular in-depth interview were used. These were audio recorded and transcribed using NVivo. The transcription underwent analysis using reflexive thematic analysis. Codes and themes were generated from reading the transcripts and the development of them was tracked using a table which justify decisions clearly.

Results Participants were 30 adolescents aged 11 to 16 years (male = 17/female = 13), from a mix of ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. Six themes were identified: value for money is important to students; students value independence; having control to make informed decisions; having a range of choices is important to students; food and drink items must be appealing to students; students lack control to make choices. A key finding was that having food that was within their budget, that they could eat quickly and while standing up was important to the young people. Other factors such as taste, appearance, and the way the food was presented were seen as less important. Adolescents seemed to be aware of the influence their peers and parents could have but deemed this unimportant in their food choices.

Discussion The findings suggest the food choices of adolescents are not influenced by their views on health. Adolescents make trade-offs between the factors that influence their food choices, and the trade-offs vary depending on their lived experiences and present reality. In-order to encourage adolescents to make healthier choices, stakeholders should be realistic about the food environment in which decisions are being made. Furthermore, questioning what can be done to ensure the environment aligns with the concerns of the adolescents' should Faciliate the creation of a food environment which promotes positive food ethos.