Evaluating the Relationship between Dietary Pattern and Dietary Self-Efficacy in Teenage Girl Students

Background & aim: Dietary patterns have dramatically changed in all age groups, especially the teenagers in the Iranian population. It was needed to identify the prevalence of dietary patterns and its determinants in this age group. Health behavior is one factor that influence dietary patterns and self-efficacy is a strong factor for behavior improvement. Therefore, the aim of this study was to measure the relationship between dietary patterns and the status of self-efficacy induced dietary behaviors in teenage girl students. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on a total of 236 teenage girl students selected by cluster random sampling method in Mashhad, Iran, in 2016. Frequency food questionnaire and self-efficacy questionnaire were used to evaluate dietary patterns and dietary self-efficacy of each participant. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 16) with unpaired t-test, Chi-square or Fisher’s exact test. Results: The prevalence of unhealthy dietary patterns was obtained as 65.3%. Overall levels of high, moderate, and low self-efficacy were 35.8%, 56.9%, and 7.3%, respectively. The mean score of dietary self-efficacy was higher in the group with healthy dietary patterns, compared to the group with unhealthy dietary patterns (14.12±4.25 Vs 13.88±4.71 respectively); however, the difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). Conclusion: Considering the high rate of unhealthy dietary patterns and undesirable status of dietary self-efficacy of teenagers, special attention of policymakers is needed for promotion of healthy dietary patterns and dietary self-efficacy in teenagers. It is recommended to carry out experimental studies to identify the effect of dietary self-efficacy on dietary patterns.