Analysis on the night eating behaviors of university students Lee Joo-eun* Assistant Professor, Department of Food and Nutrition, Seowon University, Cheongju, South Korea *Corresponding Author: Joo-Eun Lee Assistant Professor, Department of Food and Nutrition, Seowon University, Cheongju, Korea Email: joody88@hanmail.net
Online published on 16 October, 2018. Abstract This study investigated night eating behaviors of university students in Cheongju city to investigate differences in demographic characteristics and health related behaviors according to night meal eating. The surveys were conducted on 400 university students in Cheongju city in order to investigate the choice of the night meal, preference of the night meal menu, and problems caused by night meal eating. General information, health-related behaviors, and night eating behaviors were used to determine the frequency and percentages, and then the Chi-square test was used to determine the difference in the distribution of night meal eating between genders. 87.8% of college students were taking night meals, and there was a significant difference in the distribution of BMI, drinking frequency, wake-up time, screen time, and skipping breakfast among the general and health related behaviors according to the degree of night meal eating (p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.001). In the night eating behaviors of university students according to gender, there was a significant difference in distribution between male and female groups in night meal eating frequency, night meal eating reason, night meal eating time, behaviors during night meal eating, and side effects after night meal eating (p<0.05, p<0.01, p<0.001). Male students had higher night meal eating frequency than female students, and fried chicken, pork feet, and boiled pork were the most preferred night meal menus. When selecting the night meal menu, the most important consideration was the taste, and the weight gain was the most common side effect after eating the night meal. It is necessary to promote the problem of night meal eating to university students and to provide nutrition education and information related to eating habits including side effects of night meal. Top Keywords Night meal, Eating behaviors, University students, Side effects, Nutrition education. Top |