Kawther Coppin, Kristina Qoku, Eric Emilcar Professor Brown
ENGL 21003
10 February 2020

The Effect of School Induced Stress on the Eating Habits of College Students

Abstract

Adopting healthy eating habits is extremely important, especially for young adults. A healthy diet directly influences one’s mood, mental health, and academic success. More importantly, the habits put into practice during these critical younger years are more likely to persist through adulthood. In spite of this, studies have shown that many college students do not make appropriate choices when it comes to diet, even if they are knowledgeable on healthy eating. In this experiment, the hypothesis that school induced stress is a contributing factor to unhealthy eating habits is tested. To test this hypothesis, a survey of ten questions was created and distributed electronically to first year students of the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. The survey included questions pertaining to how stressful school may be to an individual and their eating habits throughout the school semester. After collecting and compiling the data, it was revealed that the hypothesis was correct. Stress from school resulted in unhealthy eating habits in first year college students, such as not eating three meals a day as recommended by the United States Department of Agriculture and consuming more food with an upcoming exam or assignment. The correlation, however, is weak and it was determined that there are other factors involved in the unhealthy diet of college students.

Introduction

Developing healthy eating habits is fundamental to good health and well-being as well as the key to longevity. A balanced daily diet can greatly reduce one’s risk of the four leading causes of death in the United States: major cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. A healthy diet is especially critical for teens and young adults. Eating habits developed during this time impact overall mood, mental health, and academic performance. Even more so, these habits oftentimes persist through adulthood and thus can be very difficult to change. According to “Mobile MyPlate: A Pilot Study Using Text Messaging to Provide Nutrition Education and Promote Better Dietary Choices in College Students,” an article published by Onikia Brown in 2014, overweight college students are more likely to become overweight adults. They are also at a higher risk for diet-related chronic disease, some cancers, and hypertension.

Although the importance of a healthy diet for teens and young adults has been proven, recent studies have shown that college students still struggle to eat in their best interest. Even those that have knowledge of nutritional values don’t practice healthy eating habits as they should. A study of the eating habits among college students conducted by Sam Abraham in 2018 revealed that while more than eighty percent of college students interviewed agreed that consuming processed food was unhealthy, more than sixty percent of these students reported consuming processed food either every day or more than once a day. Thus, there are many factors involved in the choices college students make regarding diet other than lack of awareness.

In this experiment, we analyze the relationship between school induced stress and harmful eating habits to determine whether or not school induced stress is a possible factor. The relationship between general stress and eating behaviors is discussed in “Stress and Eating Behaviors,” an article published by Yvonne Yau in 2014. Yau explains that stress leads to the production of a physiological response in order to regain equilibrium lost by the impact of the stressor. This physiological response includes eating behaviors. Therefore, people may over indulge in foods when stressed, leading to obesity and a myriad of other health concerns. Those that are stressed specifically seek relief and happiness in “comfort” foods that taste good but are high in fat, sugar, or sodium. Based on Yau’s ideas, we hypothesized that school induced stress leads to harmful eating habits in college students.

Methods

A survey consisting of ten questions was created via Google Forms and sent to a group chat belonging to the first year students of the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education. The survey was specifically designed so that the answers participants gave would allow a relationship between stress from school and eating habits to be discerned. The first few questions pertained to school in order to gauge how stressful each participant perceived it to be. For example, “Which courses are you taking and how many credits is each class worth?”, “On a scale of 1-10, how flexible or accommodating would you consider your professors to be?”, and “On a scale of 1-10, how challenging do you find your coursework to be?” were all questions included in the survey. Classes that are worth more credits tend to consist of more learning material and coursework and may be more stressful for students. Teachers that are less understanding and accommodating also results in a student feeling more pressure and stress when completing assignments or preparing for exams.

The next few questions inquired about eating habits throughout the semester. To determine which eating habits were harmful and which were acceptable, we followed the general guidelines provided by The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) through a program called MyPlate. The MyPlate program emphasizes a balanced consumption of five food groups: fruits, vegetables, grain, protein, and dairy products. It also recommends that American eat three meals a day and avoid foods high in solid fats, added sugars, and salt. Questions like “Do you follow the recommended 3 meals a day plan on a daily basis?” and “How does the amount of food consumed change when you have an upcoming assignment or exam?” were included in the survey. Those that did not eat three meals a day possessed unhealthy eating habits based on the standards of the USDA.

The answers to all the questions were collected and the data was analyzed for a correlation. These correlations would allow us to determine whether or not our hypothesis was correct. For instance, a positive correlation between food consumption before exams and reported stress levels before exams would indicate that school induced stress leads to overeating, thus supporting our hypothesis.
Results

Based on the data collected from the survey, it can be seen that the stress from school has affected a multitude of factors in the student’s diet ranging from the food consumed to the USDA’s recommended 3 meals a day plan. Figure 1 displayed that on average, 78.5% of students found their coursework to be at least moderately stressful. Figure 2 collected the percentage of students that felt stressed on a daily basis based on a scale of 1-10. It was found that 57.1% of students felt at least moderately stressed on a daily basis. Figure 3 demonstrated that 92.9% of students felt that their professors were at least moderately flexible. Figure 4 illustrated how stress levels change when there’s an upcoming assignment or exam. 92.9% of participants stated that their stress levels increased when there was an upcoming exam or assignment while 7.1% of participants reported that their stress levels remained the same. As seen in Figure 5, the amount of food consumed stayed relatively the same when there was an upcoming assignment or exam. Also in Figure 6, 57.1% of students that participated in the survey do not follow the USDA’s recommended 3 meal a day plan. Figure 7 detailed how frequently students snacked throughout the day. 57.1% of students snacjed 1-2 times a day, while 42.9% snacked 3-5 times a day. Lastly, Figure 8 documented how often students ate fast food during the week. On average, 57.1% of students consumed fast food 0-3 times a week while the rest of the students either ate it 5 times or none at all.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Scale ranging from 1-10 measuring how stressful coursework is to each individual participant.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Scale ranging from 1-10 categorizing how stressed each participant is on a daily basis.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Scale ranging from 1-10 categorizing how flexible professors are perceived to be by each participant.

Figure 4

Figure 5. Pie chart detailing whether the amount of food consumed either increases, decreases, or stays the same when there’s an upcoming assignment of exam.

Figure 6

Figure 6. Pie chart detailing whether participants follow the USDA recommended 3 meals a day plan on a daily basis.

Figure 7

Figure 7. Pie chart detailing how frequently participants snack throughout the day.

Figure 8

Figure 8. Bar graph detailing how often participants ate fast food throughout the week.

Discussion

Our group hypothesized that school induced stress leads to harmful eating habits within the college student population, which the results support. Figure 1 displays that 78.5% of the participants find their coursework to be at least moderately stressful. This indicates that the group we surveyed works in a highly stressful environment with multiple obligations. In Figure 2, the majority of participants cited a score of 5 for daily stress levels, or levels of moderate stress. Although this does not provide definitive information on whether or not the participants tend to feel increased levels of stress, the vague responses may be due to the general nature of the question itself. For future surveys, more directly worded questions may yield more definitive answers. Figure 3 indicates that the majority of participants find their professors to be flexible when assigning coursework, although Figure 4 portrays increased stress levels due to the onset of new assignments and exams. Although professors are generally accommodating, students still feel stressed when confronted with schoolwork. This may be due to inactivity in regards to approaching professors for extensions. Figure 5 portrays that most students consume either more or less food when confronted with an assignment or exam. Both Figures 4 and 5 are integral to supporting our hypothesis. These figures portray that a shift in eating habits occurs along with an increase in stress levels due to exams or assignments. Figure 6 reveals that the majority of participants do not follow the recommended 3 meals plan a day, while Figure 7 shows most participants snack frequently. Since Figure 8 indicates that most of the participants do not consume fast food, their meal plans may or may not consist of balanced food groups. The exact content of the food that the participants consume remains undisclosed, however, the eating habits of the participants do not follow the recommended healthy guidelines. Additionally, since increased levels of stress are cited throughout the survey due to exams and assignments, a correlation may be created between increased levels of stress and unhealthy eating habits. This is a weak correlation at best, since many other factors may contribute to unhealthy eating habits of the general population. Any future experimentation should work to further isolate the variable being tested for: in this case, eating habits in response to stress levels. Limitations of the experiment include the self-reporting nature of the survey, which may or may not accurately convey the eating habits of the participants. Additionally, stress levels are subjective according to the individual. People of different races, ages, and genders provided answers, and each of these groups could have an impact on the stress one feels and eating habits. In future experiments, stress may be measured through collecting samples of saliva and testing the levels of cortisol. Larger sample sizes would provide conclusions that are indicative of the general student population. Overall, though there is a correlation between increased stress levels and unhealthy eating habits within the student body, a causation may not be determined.

References

Abraham S, Noriega BR, Shin JY. College students eating habits and knowledge of nutritional requirements. Journal of Nutrition and Human Health. 2018;02(01). doi:10.35841/nutrition-human-health.2.1.13-17

Brown ON, O’Connor LE, Savaiano D. Mobile MyPlate: A Pilot Study Using Text Messaging to Provide Nutrition Education and Promote Better Dietary Choices in College Students. Journal of American College Health. 2014;62(5):320–327. doi:10.1080/07448481.2014.899233

What is MyPlate? ChooseMyPlate. [accessed 2020 Apr 10]. https://www.choosemyplate.gov/eathealthy/WhatIsMyPlate

Yau Y, Potenza M. Stress and Eating Behaviors. PubMed Central. 2014 Oct 30.