Investigation of the relationship between eating attitudes and emotional eating tendencies of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic process and evaluation of the frequency of consumption of sugary foods

Eating behaviors of individuals are governed not only by physical hunger but also by emotions. Identifying and preventing the development of eating behaviors that adversely affect health will increase the quality of life and duration of individuals. In this study, it was aimed to examine the relationship between susceptibility to eating disorders and emotional eating tendencies that may arise or increase with the negative emotional changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic process in university students and to evaluate the frequency of consumption of sugary foods. Demographic information, nutritional habits, physical activity and sleep status, Eating Attitude Test-26, Emotional Appetite Questionnaire and consumption frequency of 20 types of sugary foods were questioned to 546 undergraduate students studying at Yeditepe University. NCSS 2007 program was used for data analysis. The mean age of the students participating in the study was 21.7±2.1 years, 64.2% were female and 35.9% were male. The average BMI values of the students were 22.86±3.85. The mean of the eating attitude test with a cut-off point of 20 was found to be 13.09±7.69 for the students. Accordingly, while the majority of the students showed a healthy eating attitude, 15.6% were found to be prone to eating disorders. Eating attitude test values of women were found to be higher than men (p=0.001; p<0.05). According to the emotional appetite questionnaire scores, students tended to eat less in negative emotions or situations, while they tended to eat more in positive emotions and situations. Men's emotional appetite questionnaire mean scores were higher than women's (p=0.001; p<0.05). As a result of the research, a very weak and positive correlation was found between the Eating Attitudes Test-26 and the Emotional Appetite Questionnaire (r=.089, p<0.05). In order to manage the nutritional habits of university students, trainings, programs and policies should be created to increase nutritional knowledge and awareness. Keywords: University students, eating attitude, emotional appetite, sugary food