Poor Dietary Habits in Bullied Adolescents: The Moderating Effects of Diet on Depression

Abstract

The prevalence of bullying has increased dramatically during recent years, with numerous negative consequences for the health and quality of life of bullied adolescents. Although negative psychological consequences of this type of situation have been widely investigated, no previous research has evaluated the effects of bullying victimization on dietary habits, and its relationship with psychological outcomes, such as depression. For this reason, the main aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between bullying, dietary habits, and depression in a sample of 527 Spanish adolescents. The results obtained showed that being bullied was correlated negatively with healthy dietary habits and positively with depression. Moderation analysis revealed dietary habits as moderator of the association between bullying and depression. These results underline the relevance of diet in the phenomenon of bullying, especially in victims, as could be related to the high levels of depression characteristic of this population. The inclusion of nutritional education in intervention programs oriented to victims of bullying might significantly improve their efficacy, reducing depression levels.

Low Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet in Isolated Adolescents: The Mediation Effects of Stress

“…In children and adolescents, high adherence to the MD has been related to better health-related quality of life, academic performance and sleep quality, among others [5,6,7]. During adolescence and adulthood, adherence to the MD has been found to be protective for mood, in general, and for depression in particular [8,9]. In older people, it has been also found that the adoption of this healthy dietary pattern reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases, as well as cancer, and the incidence of chronic diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s [10,11,12,13], being associated with a higher longevity [14,15].…”

Breakfast Skipping, Psychological Distress, and Involvement in Bullying: Is There a Connection?

“…Sampasa-Kanyinga et al (2014) and Sampasa-Kanyinga and Willmore (2015) reported significant relationships between bullying victimization (both traditional and online), breakfast skipping, and psychological distress among middle school and high school students, indicating that psychological distress mediates the association between victimization and breakfast skipping. As mentioned previously, Albaladejo-Blazquez et al (2018) indicated that some dietary habits were significantly correlated with victimization; nonetheless, eating breakfast regularly was not one of them. The aforementioned studies involve the investigation of children and adolescents; however, to the best of my knowledge, no research has evaluated the breakfast-skipping behaviors of adults and any potential association they may have with bullying victimization.…”

“…Participants were divided into two groups (high cyber-victimized versus low cyber-victimized) based on their total scores on the CBVQ victimization items; high-victimized reported a score greater than the median value across all male or female respondents and low-victimized reported a score less than or equal to the median value across all male or female respondents (male median = 1; female median = 3). The process used for high vs. low victimized group formation is in line with other studies investigating bullying victimization (Albaladejo-Blazquez et al 2018;Jochman et al 2017). Means and standard deviations for each variable are presented in Table 2 Independent samples t tests for males and females were also conducted to examine the difference between individuals who experience high versus low levels of traditional victimization on the BVQ, CBVQ, PD, and BRFAST scales.…”

“…Although victimization has been linked to a number of adversities, one area that has received inadequate research attention is dietary habits (Albaladejo-Blazquez et al 2018;Jackson 2017). It is well-documented that unhealthy dietary patterns are associated with poor overall well-being (Jarman et al 2015;Schnettler et al 2017;Utter et al 2018).…”

“…Interestingly, only a few studies have explored quality of dietary behavior and its relationship to bullying, and they reported mixed results. Albaladejo-Blazquez et al (2018) investigated the dietary behaviors of Spanish adolescents and showed that being bullied was negatively correlated with healthy dietary habits such as adequate consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables and the use of cooking with olive oil. On the other hand, Jackson (2017) examined dietary habits of a cross-national sample of youth and reported a significant positive correlation between low-quality diet and bully perpetration; however, no association was found between diet quality and victimization.…”