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Internalizing and Externalizing Behaviors: Associations with Food Consumption in US Adolescents
Author(s) -
Chiu Dorothy,
Hurley Kristen,
Riley Anne,
Wang Youfa
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.900.16
Subject(s) - environmental health , healthy eating , unhealthy food , consumption (sociology) , medicine , food consumption , demography , feeding behavior , food frequency questionnaire , early childhood , food group , food intake , psychology , obesity , physical activity , developmental psychology , social science , sociology , agricultural economics , economics , physical medicine and rehabilitation
To examine relationships between intakes of “healthy” nutrient dense and “unhealthy” nutrient poor foods with internalizing (IPB) and externalizing (EPB) problem behaviors (e.g., worrying, arguing, respectively) in early adolescence, data on 7,775 healthy US 5 th graders from the nationally representative Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Kindergarten Class of 1998‐99 (ECLS‐K) survey were used. Food intake in the past week was self‐reported using a 9‐item food consumption questionnaire and compiled into 2 groups ‐‐ “healthy” (fruits, vegetables, milk) and “unhealthy” (sugar‐sweetened beverages (SSBs), fast foods). Mean healthy food consumption was 5.17 (SD=3.58) occasions/day and 1.21 (SD=1.32) times/day for unhealthy foods. Self‐reported IPB (mean subscale score =1.97; SD=0.60) and EPB (mean =1.73; SD=0.60) were measured by the Self‐Description Questionnaire‐II (modified). Cross‐sectional relations were evaluated via multiple linear regression, controlling for demographic, child, parent, and school factors and adjusting for weight. No associations were found between healthy foods and IPB or EPB. Intake of unhealthy foods was associated with IPB (B=0.035, 95%CI: 0.013‐0.058) and EPB (B=0.034, 95%CI: 0.013‐0.056). While future research is needed to test the causality of observed associations, efforts are needed to reduce intakes of unhealthy foods in youth demonstrating problem behaviors.