A STUDY TO ASSESS THE KNOWLEDGE, STATED PRACTICES AND PERCEIVED BODY IMAGE IN RELATION TO EATING HABIT AMONG ADOLESCENT GIRLS OF SELECTED HIGH SCHOOLS OF KALIMPONG DISTRICT, WEST BENGAL.

Abstract

According to the health eld concept, the most important factor affecting health is a life style. A good knowledge and healthy practices regarding eating habit plays a very important role in maintaining good health among adolescents. The descriptive study was conducted among 192 adolescent girls of age group 14-19 years at Girls Higher Secondary School and Pranami Balika Vidhya Mandir Higher Secondary School of Kalimpong district, West Bengal with the aim to assess the knowledge, stated practices and perceived body image in relation to eating habit. The study data was collected by using structured questionnaires. The result revealed that about 10.41%, 74.47% and 15.10% of adolescent girls have good, average, and poor level of knowledge; among them 13.54%, 73.43 % and 13% of adolescent have good, moderate and poor stated practices, related to eating habit. Regarding body image 20.83 %, 68.22% and 10.93% of adolescent girls were highly, moderately and poorly satised, with their body image. There was a negative correlation found between knowledge and stated practices (r= -0.044) and between perceived body image and stated practices (r= -0.0796) related to eating habit at 0.05 level of signicance. Further chi square result showed that there was signicant association between levels of knowledge of eating habit with religion and meal frequency / day at 0.05 level of signicance. The improvement in knowledge and practices about healthy eating habit is essential by awareness programme in schools to promote healthy lifestyle among adolescents.