investigation of the effects of life satisfaction on food preference and orthorexia nervosa tendency in nutrition and dietetics students

Ege, K.B. Investigation of the Effects of Life Satisfaction on Food Preference and Orthorexia Nervosa Tendency in Nutrition and Dietetics Students, Tekirdag Namik Kemal University Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Master of Science Thesis, Tekirdag, 2020. Satisfaction with life is defined as the comparison of what an individual wants to have and what they actually have. The more an individual reaches what one wants to have, the more one's satisfaction with life increases. University students are at the risk of both lower levels of satisfaction with life and eating disorders, as they are the ones who feel the most stress in their lives. Studies conducted in recent years indicate that the level of satisfaction with life is related to eating disorders. Since it is thought that there may be a relationship between orthoroxia nevrosa and satisfaction with life level, which is frequently observed in healthcare professionals and dietitians, we aimed to investigate the effect of satisfaction with life on food preference and orthorexia nervosa tendency in nutrition and dietetics students ages between 18-25. A 6-part questionnaire including Sociodemographic Information, ORTO-11 Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, the short form of International Physical Activity Questionnaire and Food Consumption Frequency Questionnaire were distributed as online through "Google Documents" and asked students to be volunteered. Total 283 students participated in the study. The average of students' ORTO-11 score is 25.87±3.637. It was determined that 64.7% of the participants showed orthorectic tendencies. It was observed that the students in the second grade showed more orthorectic tendencies than those in the third grade (p<0.05). The mean of satisfaction with life scores of the students was 15.59±3.536, and the average of the MET score was 1197.78±1466.44. While 49.4% of the female students were sedentary, 26.7% of the male students were found to be sedentary. Consumption of beef, tomato, marmalade/jam and coffee cream were found to be related to satisfaction with life. A statistically significant relationship was found between students' physical activity levels and amount of fruit, vegetable, bread and coffee consumption. As a result, it was concluded that food preferences of students changes depending on their satisfaction with life and tendency to orthorexia nervosa. Key words: orthorexia nervosa, satisfaction with life, food preference