THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, STRESS AND DIETARY BEHAVIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS IN TEHRAN

Background and Aim: According to the literature, stress, anxiety, and depression can cause polyphagia and overweight and unhealthy food choices. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between depression, anxiety, stress scales and dietary behavior in female high school students in Tehran.Methods: In this cross-sectional study of 400 high school female students in Tehran were selected using multistage cluster sampling method. Data associated with stress, anxiety, and depression was collected by a short questionnaire of Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21). To study the dietary behavior of students and weekly food consumption frequency, food frequency questionnaire was used. Results: Regarding the results of this research, 49.8% of students had stress levels, 56.3% anxiety and 55.3% of them had depression levels. According to the results of this study, students who had stress, depression, and anxiety, their salt intake were higher than normal students (P =0.01, 0.02, 0.006). While the students were anxious, fast food consumption were also high (P= 0.07). People with the stress use less natural juice (P=0.006) and fruit (P= 0.02), but depressed people only used natural fruit juice less (P= 0.03).Conclusion: Students with levels of stress, depression and anxiety in comparison with students without them, have undesirable food habits and these problems may affect dietary behavior more towards unhealthy foods. More studies are needed to clarify the relationships between stress, depression and anxiety with dietary behavior.

کلیدواژه ها:

food behavior ، stress ، anxiety ، depression ، mental disorder