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Abstract
The rapid changes in physical growth and psychosocial development during the adolescence make this age group vulnerable to more poor eating habits which will have adverse effects on their status of nutrition and health. This study aims to examine the relationship between body weight and dietary habits and psychosocial factors including depression, stress and anxiety among secondary school students in Hebron city, Palestine. A total of 385 students (53.3% males and 46.5% females with mean age 16.5± 0.7 years) were randomly selected from four (4) different areas in Hebron, following the stratified random sampling procedures. The nutritional status was assessed by anthropometric measurement and dietary habits; and the psychosocial factors were assessed using a validated Arabic version of the 21-item DASS scale (Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale). The results revealed that the majority of the students (75.1%) were normal weight, 3.4% underweight, 15.3 overweight and 6.2% were obese according to WHO –CDC 2000 cut-off points. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was (45.7%), stress symptoms (29.1%) and (44%) for anxiety. There was a significant relationship between stress and skipping meal (p<0.05), and between depression and skipping meals, eating fast food weight satisfaction and eating at school habit (p<0.05). However, there was no relationship between anxiety and any of the dietary habits. Further longitudinal studies are needed to determine the cause and effect relationship between nutritional status and psychosocial factors.
Key words: Nutritional status, psychosocial factors, dietary habits, adolescence