EFFECT OF FOOD CHOICES AND BODY IMAGE-RELATED CONCERNS ON MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
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Date
2024
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
UMT.Lahore
Abstract
Mental health of university students has been recognized as a major public health
concern. University students often struggle with negative body image due to media
exposure and problems with weight as well as lack of awareness regarding basic
characters of food that they consume. This study is aimed at exploring effects of
food choices and body image-related concerns on mental health issues among
university students in Pakistan. A sample of 400 students from different universities
of Lahore was included in this cross-sectional study. Information related to
students’ demographics, food choices, eating habits, body shape perceptions and
mental health was collected. The results demonstrated that consumption of certain
food groups and body image-related concerns had statistically significant
association with symptoms of depression (p<0.005). normal BMI and moderate to
high intensity physical activities were not significantly associated with symptoms
of depressions and perceived stress. In addition to this, statistically significant and
negative correlations of certain food groups and food items consumption with
mental health issues were obtained i.e., cereals and grains (r= -.302**, p=0.000),
meat and proteins (r=-.277**, p=0.000). body image-related concerns and BMI
were statistically significant and positively correlated with depression i.e., (r=
.345**, p=0.000) and (r= .0230, p= 0.000) respectively.