Evaluation of nutrition habits the second grade students in Seferihisar region with the ecological framework

Aim: This study aims to determine the eating habits of 10th grade students in Seferihisar, Izmir and the factors related to the students' eating habits within the Ecological Framework. Materials and Method: This is a cross-sectional study of 10th grade students who were educated in public high schools in Seferihisar, Izmir in 2018 (N: 392). 344 students participated in the study (%87.7). The eating habits of the students are dependent variable. Eating habits variable was evaluated with the Adolescent Food Habits Checklist (AFHCL) which was validated in Turkish by Arıkan et al. The factors related to the students' eating habits were evaluated within the Ecological Framework developed by Story et al. Ecological Framework consists of individual factors (socio-demographic and economic characteristics, existing health conditions and habits), social environments (family, friends), physical environments (home, school and surroundings, restaurants) and macro-level environments (school policies, advertising and media). The data of the study was evaluated using SPSS 22.0 package program and p <0.05 was considered significant. Student t test, one-way Anova and linear regression analysis were used for statistical comparisons. Results: 52% of the students were female and 48% were male. The average age of students is 15,17 ± 0,43. The AFHCL score of the study group was 10.6 ± 3,95. Students who live with family, dieting, have a high level of nutritional information, less expose to screen activities, directed by the parents about nutrition, have fruit and vegetables at home, buy junk food from school canteen and school environment, do not consume advertised food and have posters encouraging about healthy nutrition at school are more healthy. Nutritional knowledge, consumption of food consumed by friends at school, the status of buying junk food from school canteen, the status of banner, poster and encouraging healthy nutrition in school and prefered foods in advertising were found statistically significant in explaining their nutritional habits as a result of linear regression analysis (p <0.05). The level of Ecological Framework explaining students' eating habits was found to be %44.8. Conclusion: The eating habits of the students are good. Students' eating habits are associated with all stages of Ecological Framework. Increasing the level of nutritional knowledge plays a role in triggering healthy eating behaviors. In particular, increasing the students' knowledge about fruits and vegetables may affect their eating habits positively. For this, students can be taught fruits and vegetables in all schools across the country, the benefits of fruits and vegetables can be explained and schools can have a fruit time rule. Finding healthy foods around the home, school and surroundings, informing families about healthy nutrition, the implementation of policies related to healthy nutrition at school and state is one of the most important steps to be taken. Limiting the advertisements of junk food and advertising of healthy foods can positively affect students' eating habits. Keywords: adolescent; ecological framework; habits; nutrition