Evaluating the relationship between anxiety and eating behaviors among students of Universities of Ahvaz and Tehran

Eating behavior is a key factor which affects dietary intakes and health. As the prevalence of anxiety among university students is high and its probable effect on eating behaviors, current study was done to evaluate the relationship between anxiety and eating behaviors among students at Universities of Ahvaz and Tehran.
Three hundred and forty students from Tehran and Ahvaz Universities participated in this study. A general questionnaire was completed by all subjects. Anxiety was assessed using Spielberger questionnaire that showed two classes of obvious and hidden anxiety. Dutch eating behavior questionnaire was used to assess emotional, external and restrained eating behaviors.
The results of the study showed that there is no significant difference between students in two mentioned cities for levels of anxiety. However, there are significant differences in emotional and external eating behaviors in different levels of obvious (p=0.019, p=0.013 respectively) and hidden (p=0.002, p=0.023 respectively) anxiety.
The results demonstrated the relationship between anxiety and eating behavior and confirmed that the reduction of anxiety may improve eating behavior.