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Dietary behaviours and the mental well‐being of New Zealand adolescents
Author(s) -
Puloka ‘Ilaisaane,
Utter Jennifer,
Denny Simon,
Fleming Terry
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of paediatrics and child health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.631
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1440-1754
pISSN - 1034-4810
DOI - 10.1111/jpc.13524
Subject(s) - medicine , mental health , ethnic group , depressive symptoms , poverty , quartile , emotional eating , national health and nutrition examination survey , clinical psychology , demography , psychiatry , environmental health , obesity , anxiety , eating behavior , population , confidence interval , sociology , anthropology , economics , economic growth
Aim To examine the associations between diet and mental health indicators in adolescents. Methods Data were drawn from the Youth 2012 survey, a national survey of the health and well‐being of adolescents in New Zealand ( n = 8500). Multiple regression models were used to determine the associations between healthy and unhealthy eating and mental health indicators while adjusting for sex, age, ethnicity, small area deprivation and household poverty as covariates. Results Approximately 30% of young people in the lowest quartile for healthy eating reported significant depressive symptoms. Greater healthy eating was significantly associated with fewer depressive symptoms, better well‐being and fewer emotional difficulties (all P < 0.001 after adjusting for covariates). Greater unhealthy eating was significantly associated with greater depressive symptoms, poorer well‐being and greater emotional difficulties (all P < 0.001 after adjusting for covariates). Conclusions Findings from this study contribute to a growing body of literature that indicate that eating behaviours are associated with mental health indicators among adolescents. Findings from the current study suggest that efforts to enhance healthy eating may also have a positive impact on mental health.