Abstract

To explore protective and risk factors associated with eating habits, 18 mothers of differing family and socioeconom-ical level structures were contacted. With ages between 31 and 53 years and an average of two children. One adolescent per mother was selected, 10 girls and 8 boys, the average teenagers’ age was 14 years old. Mothers and children were applied the same interview pattern, addressing topics about socialization, and eating practices promoted at home. The interviews were analysed with the Atlas.ti software, following the reflective thematic analysis recommendations. Anal-ysis of the mother and child dyads illustrate that there are positive conditions in the families studied that reveal defined eating routines, use of direct conversation with the children and body monitoring strategies. Current barriers present in food socialization are evident. Use of structured parental strategies, permissive feeding with adolescents, lack of accessibility to purchasing healthy foods, mothers’ comments about their children’s bodies and interparental conflict are factors that act as possible risk promoters for healthy eating.