Starting university with high eating self-regulatory skills protects students against unhealthy dietary intake and substantial weight gain over 6 months

Abstract

BackgroundThere is consistent evidence that suggests first year students are at risk of weight gain, but the reasons for this vulnerability are still unclear. This study aimed to explore whether the ability to regulate eating behaviours is a predictor of weight and dietary changes in first year undergraduate students.MethodsFirst year undergraduate students from universities situated in London were invited to complete a survey at the beginning of the academic year and at 6-month follow-up. Each survey included the Self-Regulation of Eating Behaviour Questionnaire, food frequency questions, socio-demographic questions and anthropometric questions. Linear and logistic regressions were performed to explore the associations between baseline eating self-regulatory skills and weight and dietary changes.Results481 first year undergraduate students took part in the study. Students who entered university with higher eating self-regulatory skills were more likely to maintain or achieve a higher fruit and vegetable (OR = 1.8, p = 0.007) and a lower sweet and salty snack (OR = 1.9, p = 0.001) intake over the course of the first 6 months in university. Higher baseline eating self-regulatory skills were also related to lower weight changes (β = −0.15, p = 0.018) and lower likelihood of gaining 5% initial body weight (OR = 0.52, p = 0.006) at 6-month. Additionally, self-regulatory skills moderated the relationship between baseline BMI and weight changes (β = −0.25, p ≤0.001) and between baseline BMI and 5% weight gain (OR = 0.82, p = 0.008).ConclusionsStarting university with higher eating self-regulatory skills may help students to maintain or achieve a healthy diet and protect them against substantial weight gain, especially among students with overweight.

Understanding the Associations Among Perceived Stress, Self-Control Skills, and Overeating in Asian Adolescents

“…22 One possible explanation is that those with excellent self-control skills more effectively restricted their eating and engaged in eating healthier; consequently, they had a lower BMI status. 38 Hence, with these controversial findings, there is a need for more empirical research with diverse populations to further examine possible contributing factors that may affect adolescents' self-control skills and restrained eating and the relationship between the 2.…”

Analysis of Self-Regulation of Eating Behaviors within Polish Adolescents’ COVID-19 Experience (PLACE-19) Study

“…A higher level of self-regulation of eating behaviors leads to a healthier diet being followed, and as a result, it may prevent excessive weight gain [3]. In general, the level of self-regulation of eating behaviors is lower in the case of obese individuals than in normal-weight ones [4,5].…”

Estilos de vida relacionados con la salud en estudiantes universitarios (Lifestyles related to health in university students)

“…Hartmann, Botelho, Akutsu & Puppin (2018) ratifican que el consumo de frutas y verduras está relacionado con los ingresos económicos de los estudiantes, entre un 8,9% y 11,8% de estatus socioeconómico bajo y 11,5% y 16,7% de estatus altos. Considerando lo anterior, es fundamental el diseño de políticas de promoción de la salud al interior de las universidades que garanticen el acceso a alimentos saludables y de bajo costo (El Ansari et al, 2017), toda vez que los primeros años en la universidad se convierten en un riesgo para el aumento de peso, lo cual se puede mejorar al incrementar las habilidades de autocontrol de los estudiantes para mantener o lograr una dieta saludable (Kliemann, Croker, Johnson & Beeken, 2018).…”