The impact of academic stress on the dietary behaviour of female undergraduates in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

There is a paucity of research into the effect of stress on the dietary behaviour of undergraduate students in non-western societies, particularly middle-eastern countries. This is in spite of the seeming importance of culture and ethnicity as potential moderating factors of the stress- diet relationship. Consequently, there is limited knowledge and understanding of the factors that influence the stress-diet relationship in these societies. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of academic stress on the dietary behaviour of female undergraduate students in King Abdul-Aziz University in Saudi Arabia and how it is influenced by the lifestyle choices and coping strategies adopted by students. A longitudinal survey of a convenient sample of undergraduate students was carried out using several instruments. These included a self-completed questionnaire (to collect data on socio-demographics, lifestyle choices), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS14), Brief COPE instrument, and 24hour recall interviews. Data were collected when no examinations were scheduled (T1), and again during examinations (T2). The participants were drawn from the female undergraduate student population in six different faculties at the university with a median age of 21.6 years. 491 participants were recruited to the study (T1), of whom 322 completed the follow-up study (T2) during the examination period. The results showed that students reported significantly higher levels of stress during examinations (p<0.001) and that age and smoking were the two discriminating factors of students’ perception of stress. The analysis of food data revealed that there wasn’t a significant difference in the nutrient intake of students during (T1) and (T2). Nonetheless, results showed that during examinations the frequency of food intake was significantly lower (t(320) = 6.195; p=0.001), as with fast food intake (t(320) = -3.439; p=0.001). Whereas the intake of healthy food by students who reported significantly higher levels of stress decreased significantly. The study results also indicated that students reported significantly higher emotion focused coping scores (t (321) = 4.559; p