Association between Stress and Nutritional status of High School Students in Chungbuk using Nutrition Quotient for Korean Adolescents

In Young Kim; Mi-Kyeong Choi

doi:10.5720/kjcn.2020.25.5.361

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Association between Stress and Nutritional status of High School Students in Chungbuk using Nutrition Quotient for Korean Adolescents: In Young Kim, Mi-Kyeong Choi; Korean Journal of Community Nutrition 2020;25(5):361-373.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2020.25.5.361
Published online: October 31, 2020

¹Graduate student, Major in Nutrition Education, Graduate School of Education, Kongju National University, Yesan, Korea

²Professor, Division of Food Science, Kongju National University, Yesan, Korea

Corresponding author: Mi-Kyeong Choi,
Email: mkchoi67@kongju.ac.kr

Received: 17 September 2020 • Revised: 20 October 2020 • Accepted: 21 October 2020

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Abstract

Objectives
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between stress levels and eating habits in adolescents. Methods A total of 453 male and female high school students were surveyed to ascertain their stress levels, Nutrition Quotients for Korean Adolescents (NQ-A), and stress-related eating behavior. Results The average age of the subjects was 18 and they were mostly from nuclear families. Their average daily conversation time with their parents was between 10 to 30 minutes. The average sleep time for female students was observed to be less than that of male students. The satisfaction level of academic achievement of female students was significantly lower than that of the male students (P < 0.001). The average stress level score for female students was 2.7 out of 5, which was significantly higher than the male student's score of 2.4 (P < 0.001). The eating speed of male students was related to stress levels. Both male and female students ate more and craved spicy food when under stress. All male and female students had significantly ascending NQ-A scores rising in the order of stress from ‘low level’ to ‘medium level’, to ‘high level’ (P< 0.001). There was a significant negative correlation between the stress score and the NQ-A score adjusted for general characteristics (r = −0.29, P < 0.001). Conclusions Since stress and NQ-A were negatively correlated in high school students, higher stress levels can be associated with irregular eating habits and negative eating behavior. Therefore, stress management and nutrition education focusing on stress status are needed for adolescents.

Keywords: adolescents; stress; NQ-A; nutritional status

Korean J Community Nutr. 2020 Oct;25(5):361-373. Korean.
Published online Oct 31, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2020.25.5.361

Original Article

Association between Stress and Nutritional status of High School Students in Chungbuk using Nutrition Quotient for Korean Adolescents

In Young Kim

,¹ and Mi-Kyeong Choi

Author information

Author notes

- ¹Graduate student, Major in Nutrition Education, Graduate School of Education, Kongju National University, Yesan, Korea.
- ²Professor, Division of Food Science, Kongju National University, Yesan, Korea.
Corresponding author: Mi-Kyeong Choi. Division of Food Science, Kongju National University, Yesan 32439, Korea. Tel: (041) 330-1462, Fax: (041) 330-1469, Email: mkchoi67@kongju.ac.kr

Received September 17, 2020; Revised October 20, 2020; Accepted October 21, 2020.

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between stress levels and eating habits in adolescents.

Methods

A total of 453 male and female high school students were surveyed to ascertain their stress levels, Nutrition Quotients for Korean Adolescents (NQ-A), and stress-related eating behavior.

Results

The average age of the subjects was 18 and they were mostly from nuclear families. Their average daily conversation time with their parents was between 10 to 30 minutes. The average sleep time for female students was observed to be less than that of male students. The satisfaction level of academic achievement of female students was significantly lower than that of the male students (P < 0.001). The average stress level score for female students was 2.7 out of 5, which was significantly higher than the male student's score of 2.4 (P < 0.001). The eating speed of male students was related to stress levels. Both male and female students ate more and craved spicy food when under stress. All male and female students had significantly ascending NQ-A scores rising in the order of stress from ‘low level’ to ‘medium level’, to ‘high level’ (P < 0.001). There was a significant negative correlation between the stress score and the NQ-A score adjusted for general characteristics (r = −0.29, P < 0.001).

Conclusions

Since stress and NQ-A were negatively correlated in high school students, higher stress levels can be associated with irregular eating habits and negative eating behavior. Therefore, stress management and nutrition education focusing on stress status are needed for adolescents.

Keywords

adolescents; stress; NQ-A; nutritional status

Tables

Table 1
General characteristics of the subjects

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Table 2
Stress status of the subjects

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Table 3
Dietary habits according to stress level

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Table 4
Awareness of the relationship between stress and eating behavior according to stress level

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Table 5
Nutrition Quotient for Korean Adolescents (NQ-A) score according to stress level

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Table 6
Correlation between stress level and Nutrition Quotient for Korean Adolescents (NQ-A) score

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Acknowledgments

This paper is part of the master's degree research.

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Citations

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