Eating habits, body image and health and behavioural problems of adolescents: The role of school and family context

Healthy eating habits in adolescence support optimal health, growth and intellectual development of the individual. In Slovakia, the prevalence of unhealthy eating habits among adolescents is rather high. During the last decade, regular consumption of soft drinks and energy drinks has become very common in adolescents. This consumption has been found to be strongly associated with a wide range of health and behavioural problems in adolescents. To date only a few studies have explored this relationship.
In a study on the sample of more than 8,000 adolescents, we found that adolescents consuming soft drinks and energy drinks on regular basis are at higher risk of multiple negative health and behavioural outcomes. Furthermore, high soft drinks or energy drinks consumption was strongly associated with negative school experiences, such as school dislike, low academic achievement or truancy. Adolescents combining alcohol and energy drinks were more likely to report behaviour problems than consumers of either alcohol only, or energy drinks only, and than non-consumers. We further found that a negative body image was associated with involvement in bullying as victim and as bully-victim. Boys feeling to be too thin were more likely to involve in bullying as a bully-victim.
Parents play an important role in the occurrence of unhealthy eating patterns. Adolescents reporting no eating-related parental rules in their families were at higher risk to drink soft drinks and energy drinks regularly. Our findings imply a need for optimising eating habits in adolescence. Public awareness about the negative consequences of regular soft drinks and energy drinks consumption needs to be improved.