The association between appetite and eating behaviors among Chinese female university students.

Background: Young females are at a higher risk of developing unhealthy eating behaviors. This study investigated the relationship between appetitive traits and eating behaviors among female university students. Methods: The study participants were 520 female university students from a public university in Eastern China. Appetitive traits were assessed using the Chinese version of the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire (C-AEBQ). Data on eating behaviors, including food intake frequency, meal regularity, and dieting behavior, were collected using self-administered questionnaires. The body mass index (BMI) was calculated using self-reported data. Pearson's and Spearman's correlations were used to correlate appetitive traits with BMI and eating behaviors. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to identify different appetitive patterns, and logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between different appetitive patterns and eating behaviors. Results: Two food-approach traits (food enjoyment and emotional over-eating) were positively correlated with BMI, while two food-avoidance traits (slowness in eating and satiety responsiveness) showed negative correlations. Food responsiveness was linked to a higher intake of delivered food, spicy food, and sugar-sweetened beverages, whereas satiety responsiveness was correlated with more frequent meal skipping. The LPA identified four appetitive patterns: food approachers, food approachers with emotional under-eating, food avoiders, and food avoiders with emotional over-eating. Food avoiders had significantly lower BMI than the other groups. Compared to food approachers, food avoiders skipped breakfast more frequently, and food avoiders with emotional over-eating skipped both breakfast and lunch more often. After adjusting for BMI, appetitive patterns showed no significant relationship with dieting behavior. Conclusion: Among female university students, appetitive patterns correlated with eating behaviors, and students with food-avoidance patterns had a higher risk of meal irregularity. These findings emphasize the importance of implementing trait- and pattern-specific approaches to promote healthy eating behaviors among female university students.

Factors affecting dissociative tendency among middle school students / 预防医学

Abstract@#Objective To investigate the prevalence of dissociative tendency and its influencing factors among middle school students, so as to provide insights into prevention and early interventions of adolescent dissociative tendency.@* Methods@# Students at ages of 13 to 18 years that studied in 9 high schools were sampled using a multistage, stratified, cluster sampling method from 3 counties (districts) of Hangzhou City from January, 2021 and March, 2022. Participants' demographics and social, school, family environment and psychological factors were collected using self-designed questionnaires and standardized scales. The dissociative tendency was initially screened using the Adolescent Dissociative Experience Scale (A-DES), and the diagnosed by three psychiatrists according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th Edition). Factors affecting ADT were identified using a multivariable logistic regression model. @*Results@# Totally 3 240 students were recruited, and 2 841 students were qualified, with a response rate of 87.69%. The respondents included 1 389 men (48.89%) and 1 452 women (51.11%), and had a mean age of (15.69±1.58) years. The prevalence of dissociative tendency was 24.04%, and the detection of dissociative tendency was higher among men than among women (29.23% vs. 19.08%; χ2=24.529, P<0.001). Multivariable logistic regression analysis identified negative teacher-student relationship (OR=1.055, 95%CI: 1.010-1.103), family emotional expressiveness (OR=0.872, 95%CI: 0.777-0.978), family conflict (OR=1.152, 95%CI: 1.045-1.271), family organization (OR=0.880, 95%CI: 0.780-0.992) and family cohesion (OR=0.871, 95%CI: 0.766-0.987) as factors affecting dissociative tendency among men, and somatization (OR=1.041, 95%CI: 1.002-1.082) and paranoid ideation (OR=1.094, 95%CI: 1.006-1.190) as factors affecting dissociative tendency among women. @*Conclusions@# The prevalence of dissociative tendency was 24.04% among middle school students. Negative teacher-student relationship, family emotional expressiveness, family conflict, family organization, and family cohesion may affect dissociative tendency among men, while somatization and paranoid ideation may affect dissociative tendency among women.