Association of Food Habits on Adolescents’ Mental Distress and Quality of Life: an Observational Study From Higher Secondary Schools of Pakistan

Background: Academic performance influence depression, anxiety, stress and overall quality of life of students. The purpose of this study is to investigate the eating habits of school adolescents, and its association with status of mental health and quality of life (QOL). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among children and adolescents of all Government higher secondary schools in District Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan from March 2023 to May 2023. A 39-item Adolescent Food Habits Checklist, Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale for youth (DASS-Y) 21 item questionnaire and 26 item WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire were used to collect the data. Data analyses were performed on SPSS Version 22.0 to measure significance between variables. Results : Study findings showed that stress, anxiety, and depression among students were 92.4%, 76.8%, and 86.6%, respectively. Analyses identified three groups: poor eating (36%), moderate eating (35%), and good eating habits (29%). Depression, anxiety and stress with eating behaviors have a substantial relationship (x ² <137.7, p- value < 0.001), (x ² <154.6, p- value < 0.001), (x ² < 126.3, p- value < 0.001) respectively. Conclusion : Students showed high levels of psychological distress and low quality of life due to bad food habits. There is a need of interventions for dietary habits improvement and modification of school environment to reduce the risk of psychological distress and improve QOL.