Evaluation of the relationship between emotional appetite and obesity in students at A of health vocational high school

A healthy, adequate and balanced diet is to get the necessary ingredients from the nutrients in order to grow the body, to repair the tissues and to keep them working properly, and to use these ingredients appropriately in the body. The aim of this study was to explain the relationship between obesity and emotional appetite of 19-50 years old adults in positive and negative mood. In this cross-sectional / descriptive study, it was aimed to reach the whole universe (N = 1030) without selecting a sample and 815 was reached (the response rate was 79.1%). A questionnaire was applied to the participants. The questionnaire used consists of seven sections: general information about individuals, health information, eating habits, anthropometric measurements, three-factor nutrition scale, emotional appetite scale and eating behavior test (EAT-26). Height and weight measurements were made by the researchers in accordance with the literature. The data were saved to the statistical packaged software SPSS 22.0, and this program was used for error checks, tables and statistical analyzes. 71.9% of the students participated in the study were women and the mean age was 20.0 (19.0-20.0). 35.1% of the students had regular physical activity and 8.5% had received vitamin-mineral supplements in the last three months. 97.9% of the students were eating outside the home. The mean score of the three-factor nutrition scale was 37.0 (33.0-42.0). The three-factor nutrition scale total score, emotional eating score and restrictive eating score of male students were significantly lower than female students (p < 0.05). Emotional eating scores of those who did physical activity were significantly lower than those who did not (p < 0.05). A significant difference was found between body mass index and total score and restrictive eating scores of the students (p < 0.05). The mean score of the total emotional appetite of the students was calculated as 94.0 (78.0-110.0). It was found that the total negative score of male students was higher than that of female students, the total negative score of students with chronic disease was higher than the score of the students who had no chronic disease, and the score of students who did not skip their main meals was higher than the score of the students skipping their main meals (p < 0.05). The rate of normal eating behavior of males was higher than that of females and the rate of those who did not skip their main meals was significantly higher than those who skipped (p < 0.05). There was a significant relationship between body mass index and eating behavior (p < 0.05). As a result, less than half of the students do regular physical activity and almost all of them eat outside the home. Physical activity was found to have an effect on emotional eating. In this sense, it may be useful to explain to students that doing physical activity is important for a healthy and regular diet and therefore a healthy life. Keywords: Health Vocational High School, emotional appetite, obesity, nutrition.