Sprouting Seeds of Connectedness

Associations between Gardening and Cooking Skills and Youth Connections to Peers, Adults, and Community

Abstract

This study assessed cross-sectional relationships between cooking and gardening skills and young people’s connectedness to their peers, adults in their lives, and their community. Racially/ethnically diverse youth (n=106; ages 7-14, 51 percent female) participated in a summer gardening and cooking Youth Farm program and completed surveys at the end of the program on gardening skills, cooking skills, and connectedness to peers, adults and community. Using descriptive, bivariate and multivariate analyses, the study assessed associations between cooking and gardening skills with and without adjustment for potential confounding variables. Youth reported high average levels of cooking and gardening skills; skill levels were higher for those who had participated in more summers of Youth Farm programming. Cooking skills were associated with connectedness, but relationships between gardening skills and connectedness measures were less statistically robust. In light of positive outcomes from previous research and associations with connectedness yielded by the present research, multicomponent cooking and gardening programs show great promise for promoting healthy development for diverse, urban youth.