The current study set out to examine the sociocultural beliefs, views and attitudes toward breakfast, and the self-reported breakfast
consumption behaviors, among key stakeholders at the center of
a council wide universal free school breakfast initiative, within
an area of high socioeconomic deprivation, in the North West
of England, UK. A grounded theory analysis of the qualitative
data, collected during semi-structured interviews and small focus
groups, revealed a qualitative model for breakfast behaviors. This
model, represented in Figure 1, consists of three domains relating
to breakfast behaviors, and the internal and external factors which influence breakfast behaviors. A range of breakfast behaviors were reported including, regular and later breakfast consumption,
breakfast skipping, double breakfasting, and eating breakfast on the way to school. Internal influencers of breakfast behaviors included sociocultural beliefs, views and attitudes about the breakfast meal, including the importance of breakfast, and breakfast at home vs
breakfast at school. External influencers of breakfast behaviors
included socioeconomic factors such as poverty, food insecurity,
weekends and school holidays, work and educational commitments, and multiple or young children. It was considered that the
free school breakfast scheme alleviated a number of barriers to
breakfast consumption, particularly socioeconomic factors relating to poverty, food insecurity, work/educational commitments,
and family structures.