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Dietary changes and its psychosocial moderators during the university examination period
Stress may play a role in enhancing unhealthy dietary choices, through a predilection to fatty and sweet food. However, individual susceptibility to stress is variable, which may be explained by different psychological determinants. In this longitudinal study by Michels et al. (2020), the authors aimed to investigate how exam stress affected the diet of students, and whether at-risk groups may be identified through observing their eating behavior (emotional/external/restrained), taste preference, motivation behind food choice, impulsivity, coping strategies, reward/punishment vulnerability, social support, sedentary lifestyle, living in a student home, or being a freshman. 232 participating students filled out a set of online questionnaires on perceived exam stress, the diet they ate (using the food frequency questionnaire with diet quality index), in addition to relevant psychological and demographic factors, before and after an examination period. The authors observed a substantial reduction in food quality during exam periods, in particular, a decrease in fruit and vegetable intake, an increase in fast food intake, a general reduction in the diet quality index, and a reported increase in the challenges experienced when attempting to eat a healthy diet. Furthermore, the authors noted several risk determinants that increased the odds of experiencing exam-induced diet derangements, which were seen in emotional eaters, sweet/fatty food lovers, external eaters, sensitivity to reward or punishment, non-first-year students, sedentary students, students reporting higher levels of stress and students reporting health as a food choice motive. In addition, the results revealed a low baseline dietary quality of the diet consumed by students overall. The authors conclude that their results highlight the vulnerability of students’ diet to exam-induced stress, and the student subpopulations who suffer from the highest levels of risk. The authors recommend implementing preventative measures that encompass both psychological and lifestyle factors, such as nutritional education, stress management, techniques to enhance awareness on eating behaviors, self-effectiveness and health-enhancing environments. [NPID: Diet quality, emotional eating, moderation, snack, stress, students]
Year: 2020
