Eating attitudes, physical activity, and sleep quality levels of adolescents during the pandemic process

Purpose

The present study was conducted to determine the eating attitude, physical activity, and sleep quality levels of adolescents during the pandemic process.

Method

This descriptive study was completed by 987 adolescents. Data were collected by using the Adolescent Descriptive Characteristics Form, the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), the International Physical Activity Evaluation Questionnaire (IPAQ-Short Form), and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).

Results

It was found that the mean age of the adolescents who participated in the study was 16.30 ± 1.30 and 23.1 % of them were male. During the pandemic process, adolescents consumed pastries, sugary foods and beverages, french fries, chips, etc. consumption was found to increase (41.7 %, 42.2 %, 45.2 %, respectively). It was also found that the mean DEBQ score of the adolescents was 75.13 ± 19.65 and the mean PSQI score was 10.99 ± 4.22. In the IPAQ, 29.9 % of the adolescents were found to be inactive, 44.7 % minimally active, and 25.4 % very active. It was determined that BMI, PSQI, gender, pastry, and sugary food consumption were important predictors of eating behavior. When the increase in consumption of pastries and sugary foods was added, it was seen that BMI, PSQI, and gender explained 7 % of the change in DEBQ and when the increase in pastry and sugary foods was added, it explained 11 % of the change in DEBQ. It was found that BMI, PSQI (p < 0.001), and gender (p = 0.001) had significant effects on students' eating behavior scores.

Conclusion

Adolescents' eating out, emotional eating, and restrictive eating scores were found to be high during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adolescents were also found to have inadequate physical activity levels and poor sleep quality. It is recommended that projects and intervention studies be performed to help adolescents with these matters.