Evaluation of the relationship between university students' attitudes to healthy nutrition and anxiety disorder

Being in the youth period of life span and the process of adaptation to a different environment affect the healthy eating habits and eating attitudes of university students negatively in general. Anxiety disorders, which are the most common mental disorders worldwide, also affect university students. . The study was carried out between January-April 2021 to determine the effect of generalized anxiety disorder, which is observed in undergraduate students of Nutrition & Dietetics and Nursing Departments at Artvin Çoruh University, on healthy eating attitude differences. A total of 274 students studying in the Department of Nutrition & Dietetics and Department of Nursing were contacted and information was collected online by questionnaire method. Among the non-parametric analyses, Mann Whitney U test was used to compare two-parameter categorical variables with scale scores, and Kruskal Wallis H test was used to compare categorical variables with three or more parameters with scale scores. When the findings were evaluated, the average total score obtained by the students from the Attitude Scale for Healthy Nutrition (ASHN) scale was 76.17±9.13. According to the scale, a score between 64 and 84 points out having a high level of attitude towards health and nutrition. Accordingly, it was determined that the students, on average, had a high level of attitude towards healthy eating. According to the results of Positive Eating Habits sub-dimension and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) test, there is a low negative correlation between positive eating habits and generalized anxiety disorder (p<0.05). It was determined that there was no significant relationship between the GAD-7 score of the participants and the ASHN score (p>0.05). Accordingly, there was no negative or positive relationship between participants' attitudes towards healthy eating and generalized anxiety disorders. Considering that it is a situation that may affect the academic achievement of students, it should be aimed to develop healthy eating habits, and further studies investigating the effect of anxiety, which is common among university students, on healthy eating attitudes should be carried out more comprehensively. Keywords: Attitudes towards healthy eating, generalized anxiety disorder, university student