Keywords

Breakfast; Eating styles; Self-regulation; Diet quality; Dietetics, Behavioral nutrition

Abstract

Background: Breakfast is important in maintaining optimal diet quality and decreasing preventable diet-related disease later in life. Breakfast skipping is highly prevalent in the college population, potentially decreasing self-regulation and diet quality and increasing habits of overeating. However, specific eating styles and diet quality have yet to be studied in breakfast skippers.

Objective: To explore and compare the characteristics of eating style, self-regulation, and diet quality among college students between a day when breakfast is skipped and a day when breakfast is consumed.

Methodology: Undergraduate students (n=103) participating in this observational crossover study completed demographics, the Self-regulation of Eating Behavior Questionnaire (SREBQ), the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), and the Short Healthy Eating Index (sHEI) in session A (breakfast skipped) and repeated the measures in session B (breakfast consumed, n=61). Participants were predominantly female (65%), white (54%), health professions majors (31%), and the average age was 21 years old.

Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlations, multiple linear regressions, and paired t-tests were analyzed using SPSS V29.0.

Results: Self-regulation scores were negatively associated with emotional eating and external eating in both sessions. External eating was shown to be positively correlated with total added sugars. Self-regulation levels significantly predicted diet quality and emotional and uncontrolled eating. Frequency of breakfast consumption positively predicted total diet quality in session B. From A to B, emotional eating significantly decreased, external eating marginally decreased, and restrained eating increased; seafood and plant, whole fruits, and total fruits diet quality increased; consumption of added sugars and saturated fat decreased while sodium increased.

Conclusion: Our results add specific data within the irregular breakfast-skipping population between days when breakfast was consumed vs. skipped. Future studies should include irregular breakfast skippers as a distinct category. Universities should increase healthy food accessibility on campus to mitigate the risks of student malnutrition.

Thesis Completion Year

2024

Thesis Completion Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair

Jeune, Shante

College

College of Health Professions and Sciences

Department

Department of Health Sciences

Thesis Discipline

Dietetics

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus Access

None

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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Rights Statement

In Copyright