The Relationship of between Eating Habits and Obesity Incidence in

Adolescent Girl during the Covid 19 Pandemic

Deviro

, Tonang Dwi Ardyanto

and Anik Lestari

Postgraduate Student of Human Nutrition Sciences, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta, Indonesia

Department of Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Sebelas Maret University, Indonesia

Department of Public Health Science, Faculty of Medicine, Sebelas Maret University, Surakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Obesity, Eating Habits, Adolescent Girls.

Abstract: Obesity is a nutritional problem that has a negative impact on the health of adolescent girls. Based on the

Ministry of Health of the Republic of Indonesia report in 2018, the prevalence of obesity in adolescent girls

in Pontianak City was 32.50%. Changing conditions during COVID-19 had changed the eating habits of

adolescent girls, up to the point they were at risk of obesity. This study aimed to determine the relationship

between eating habits and obesity incidence in adolescent girls during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research

method used is a cross-sectional design. The targeted population for this study was all female students at the

Pontianak Health Polytechnic, Yarsi College of Health Sciences, and Aisyiyah Health Polytechnic. The

sample was 102 female students, and the sample was selected using proportional random sampling. Data

collection was carried out from March to April 2022. The obesity criteria are based on the measurement of

waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) and the measurement of eating habits using the Adolescent Food Habit Checklist

(AFHC) questionnaire with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.905. The research data were analyzed using the chi-

square test with a 95% confidence level. The results of this study showed that the prevalence of nutritional

status of adolescent girls with obesity was 72.5% and the prevalence of bad eating habits was 62.7%. There

was a correlation between eating habits and obesity incidence in adolescent girls (p-value = 0.01, OR=0,317).

In conclusion, eating habits correlated with obesity among adolescent girls in Pontianak City. Preferably,

adolescent girls are able to choose healthy foods for daily consumption, monitor their nutritional status

regularly, and expand their knowledge about balanced diets.

1 INTRODUCTION

Obesity is a nutritional problem that has a negative

impact on public health (World Health Organization,

2022). Based on Southeast Asia data, the highest

prevalence of obesity in adolescents aged >18 years

was in Cambodia at 50.20% and the lowest

prevalence was in Myanmar at 8.4% (Ni et al., 2021).

The prevalence of obesity in Indonesian adolescents

was 23.1% and central obesity had a 28% prevalence

(Harbuwono et al., 2018). According to the data from

Indonesia Basic Health Research in 2018, the

prevalence of obesity in West Kalimantan Province

was 23.3%. A report by the Indonesia Health Ministry

in 2018 stated that obesity among adolescent girls had

a 32.50% prevalence in Pontianak City. The highest

prevalence of obesity among adolescent girls was in

the District of South Pontianak at 28% (Albertina,

2017).

Obesity occurs due to the lack of balance in daily

food intake (Rambing et al., 2021). Adolescents tend

to choose foods that have high energy and high fat, if

they are lacking physical activities, they are at a high

risk of becoming obese (Nuraelah, 2022).

Adolescence is a period when they are in

transition from childhood to adulthood (Das et al.,

2017). Adolescents eating habits follow the trends in

western countries, namely consuming fast foods and

soft drinks (Ribeiro-Silva et al., 2018). Maintaining

bad eating habits in long term can affect the

nutritional status of adolescents girls (Abdella et al.,

2019).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were

changes in the eating habits and the lifestyle of

adolescents who were increasingly less active in daily

activities (Robinson et al., 2021). The COVID-19

pandemic led to the imposition of major social

restrictions which caused adolescents girls to increase

132

Deviro, ., Ardyanto, T. and Lestari, A.

The Relationship of between Eating Habits and Obesity Incidence in Adolescent Girl during the Covid 19 Pandemic.

DOI: 10.5220/0011663100003608

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Social Determinants of Health (ICSDH 2022), pages 132-135

ISBN: 978-989-758-621-7; ISSN: 2975-8297

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

their sitting and eating frequency compared to before

the pandemic (Mutia et al., 2022). Therefore, this

study aimed to determine the association of between

eating habits and obesity incidence among adolescent

girls during the COVID-19 pandemic in Pontianak

City.

2 MATERIALS AND METHODS

This research was observational analitics research

with a cross-sectional design. The studied population

was girl students in Pontianak City. The selection of

universities was carried out randomly so that the

Pontianak Health Polytechnic, Yarsi College of

Health Sciences, and Aisyiyah Health Polytechnic

were selected

. This research was conducted from

March to April 2022. The number of samples was 102

respondents, taken using the proportional random

sampling technique. The sample was selected

according to the inclusion criteria, students aged >18

to 21 years, who were registered on campus, and lived

with their families. Exclusion criteria were Nutrition

student, sick for ≤1 month, taking contraceptive

drugs, consuming alcoholic beverages, and having a

history of metabolic disorders. The waist and hip

circumference data collection process was assisted by

one of the enumerators who graduated with a

nutrition diploma and the data collection process was

done following the applicable procedures during

COVID-19.

The collected data includes general characteristics

such as waist circumference, hip circumference, age,

eating habits, and pocket money. Waist to hip ratio

(WHR) was used to determine obesity criteria and the

Adolescent Food Habit Checklist (AFHC)

questionnaire was used to measure eating habits with

a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.9. Using the measurement of

nutritional status, the waist-to-hip ratio method was

divided into obese (> 0.80 cm) and non-obese (≤ 0.80

cm), while eating habits were categorized into good

and poor. The data were analyzed using the chi-

square test with the help of the IBM SPSS version 19

application. The confidence level was 95%.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Characteristics of Respondents

Respondents in this study were 102 adolescent girls.

Characteristics of respondents including age, pocket

money, nutritional status, and eating habits can be

seen in table 1.

Table 1: Distribution of Respondent Characteristics.

Characteristics of

Res

ondents

(n) Percentage

( % )

Age (years)

19 63 61.8

20 35 34.3

21 4 3.9

Pocket Money (Rp)

<500,000 9 8.8

500,000 5 4.9

>500,000 30 29.4

1,000,000 10 9.8

>1,000,000 48 47.1

Table 1 shows that 61.8% of the respondents were 19

years old, some of the respondents got pocket money

more than 1,000,000 rupiah (47.1%), and most of the

respondents were Muslim (77.5%).

3.2 Distribution of Eating Habits and

Nutritional Status

Table 2: Frequency Distribution of Variable.

Variable n %

Eating Habits

Goo

38 37.3

Poo

64 62.7

Nutritional Status

Obese 74 72.5

Non-obese 28 27,5

Respondents who had obese status were at the 72.5%

percentage. Half of the respondents had poor eating

habits of about 62.7% percentage. It means that most

adolescent girls were obese, and their eating habits

were poor. The reasons could be due to the lack of

references for food and respondents only eating what

they like to eat, without considering the food quality

and quantity. Adolescent girls with poor eating habits

were caused by the absence of dietary restrictions and

they are becoming free to eat any food they like.

3.3 The Association between Eating

Habits and Obesity Incidence

Table 3: Association between eating Habits and Obesity

(n=102).

Eating

habit

Nutritional status

OR p

Obese Non Obese

n % n %

Good 22 21.57 16 15.6 0.317

CI= 0,129 –

0.780

0.01

Poor 52 50.98 12 11.7

The Relationship of between Eating Habits and Obesity Incidence in Adolescent Girl during the Covid 19 Pandemic

133

Table 3 shows that respondents with poor eating

habits and obese status were 50.98% of the total, it

was higher than the obese respondents with good

eating habits (21.57%). Results of the statistical test

indicate there was a association of between eating

habits and obesity incidence in adolescent girls during

the COVID-19 pandemic with a p-value of 0.01

(p<0.05).

Based on the results of this study, it was found

that respondents with poor eating habits and obese

status were 50.98%, while respondents with good

eating habits and non-obese status were 15.6%. These

results showed eating habits and obesity incidence in

adolescent girls were association (p=0.01). It was in

line with Handayani 's research (2020) which said that

there was a association of between eating habits and

nutritional status in adolescent girls (p<0.05).

In this study, it was found that more than half of

adolescent girl respondents have poor eating habits

(62.7%). The cause was that adolescent girls tend to

choose fast food and sweet foods such as boba drinks,

tea, soda, and other drinks with high sugar content.

The results of the study by Badriyah & Pijaryani

(2022) showing that adolescents tend to choose foods

and drinks with high sugar content is in line with the

study by Mazzolani et al. (2021), stating adolescent

girls often order food online during the covid 19

pandemic when they are staying at home. According

to Mutia et al (2022), adolescent girls prefer to

consume foods that contain high energy and fat

because it is easy to obtain in fast food.

Social distancing measures during the Covid-19

pandemic resulting a change in adolescents' moods

because there was a policy to stay at home and limit

their activities (Ammar et al., 2020). Hourani et al.

(2021) research showed that 58.4% of adolescent

girls had difficulty maintaining good eating habits. It

was important for adolescent girls to maintain good

eating habits by consuming healthy foods and

increasing physical activity at home during the

pandemic, so that their nutritional status was normal,

and they could avoid obesity.

The results of this research stated that

respondents' eating habits can be influenced by their

lifestyle. During the COVID-19 pandemic,

adolescent girl respondents in Pontianak City had

poor eating habits. Respondents tended to choose

foods that have high fat and high sugar content. Poor

eating habits caused energy and fat intake to exceed

the nutritional requirements of adolescent girls, which

can lead to obesity. The COVID-19 pandemic made

respondents tend to order fast food and drinks that

contain high sugar (boba drinks and coffee with milk)

when the respondents were bored with the food

provided at their homes. If poor eating habits were

carried out continuously by adolescent girls, they can

gain obesity during the pandemic. The research of

Das, et al. (2017) stated that poor eating habits were

a trigger for obesity in adolescent girls.

There are limitations for this research. Filling out

the questionnaire was carried out during the COVID-

19 pandemic, so researchers and enumerators were

required to use strict health protocols including

wearing masks and keeping a distance so that

patience was needed in explaining the research

process to respondents. The research instrument is

only a closed questionnaire, so it is necessary to

collect data using a stronger and better instrument

such as an open questionnaire or interviews to get

more in-depth data.

4 CONCLUSIONS

There was a association of between eating habits and

obesity incidence in adolescent girls during the

COVID-19 pandemic in the city of Pontianak with a

p-value of 0.01 (p<0.05). Further research can be

done by adding energy and fat intake variables or

other variables which affect obesity in adolescent

girls during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The researcher would like to thank the Pontianak

Health Polytechnic, Yarsi College of Health

Sciences, and Aisyiyah Health Polytechnic which

have given their permission for us to collect research

data, and also others who have helped, guided, and

supported this study. The researcher hoped this

study’s results can be useful and beneficial for the

community.

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