Dietary behaviors and body image recognition of college students according to the self-rated health condition

This study was done to investigate the relationship between the perception of body image, body weight satisfaction or dietary behavior and self-rated health status in Korean college students. Subjects, 285 college students, were divided into three groups (healthy, normal, and unhealthy) according to the answer for the self-rated health question. Information about demographic status, self-rated health condition, height and weight, perception of body image, satisfaction of body weight, concern for body weight control, dietary behavior, nutritional knowledge, and health-related characteristics collected by a self-reported questionnaire. The proportion of men and women in each group was not significantly different. The academic year, major, experience of nutritional education, and type of residence were not significantly related with self-rated health but the pocket money range was significantly associated (p<0.05) with self-rated health. The proportion of subjects rated their health as unhealthy was the lowest in 210-300 thousand won pocket money range and was increased in less than 210 thousand won or over 300 thousand won pocket money ranges. There were no significant differences for age, height, weight and BMI between the groups. The body image perception and body weight satisfaction levels of healthy group was significantly higher than those of unhealthy group (p<0.01 and p<0.001, respectively), but the level of concern for body weight control in healthy subjects was significantly lower than that in unhealthy subjects (p<0.05). The proportion of subjects reported as healthy was significantly increased with increased frequencies of following food behaviors; weekly use of protein foods (p<0.01), vegetables (p<0.05) and dairy products (p<0.01), and food habits such as "regularity of meal time" (p<0.01), "eating in moderation" (p<0.05), and "eating breakfast" (p<0.001). Overall results suggested that the college students have tended to have a better perception of health when they have better body image perception, body weight satisfaction and dietary behaviors.