Abstract
Little is known about the contribution of dietary patterns of poor quality on life satisfaction among Malaysian children. We evaluated associations between an empirically derived ”high sugar, high fibre, high dietary energy dense (DED) and low fat” dietary pattern and life satisfaction score in adolescents. A total of 548 adolescents aged 13 years were recruited from randomly selected public schools located in three southern states of Peninsular Malaysia. Dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) while life satisfaction was measured using a Multidimensional Students’ Life Satisfaction Scale (MSLSS). Z-score for a ”high sugar, high fibre, high DED and low fat” dietary pattern was estimated by applying reduced rank regression analysis. Relationships between the dietary pattern and life satisfaction scores were assessed using regression models. Mean and SD of life satisfaction score was higher in girls (70.5 (12.8)) compared to boys (67.6 (15.4)), p < 0.05. The overall life satisfaction score (β = −0.119; 95% CI: −0.125, −0.004) was inversely associated with dietary pattern z-score as well as scores for self (β = −0.13; 95% CI: −0.170, −0.015) and living environment (β = −0.12; 95% CI: −0.163, −0.007) domains in girls. An opposite trend was observed for school domain in boys whereby an increasing dietary pattern score was positively associated with increasing life satisfaction score (β = 0.216; 95% CI: 0.054, 0.36). The finding of this study highlights the role of free sugar and DED particularly, within the framework of whole diet, and target population at risk to improve life satisfaction among adolescents.
Highlights
Life satisfaction is an imperative factor for good health and is demarcated as the cognitive judgment of an individual’s overall quality of life or with its certain domains [1]
Since there is a possibility of tri-directional association between adiposity, inflammation and mental health, we aimed to assess cross-sectional relationships between poor life satisfaction as a potential indication for early markers of mental illnesses and a dietary pattern linked to cardiometabolic risk factors in the sample of adolescents aged 13 years in Malaysia
Means and SD for domains of life satisfaction score were generally higher in girls than boys and these were statistically significant for school and friends domains (p < 0.001)
Summary
Life satisfaction is an imperative factor for good health and is demarcated as the cognitive judgment of an individual’s overall quality of life or with its certain domains [1]. Evidence on the correlates and predictors of higher life satisfaction in adults included higher socioeconomic status, healthy life-partner relationship, social support, paid-job and healthy financial status, good physical health and certain personality traits [2,3,4]. Psychological processes such as lack of positivity, emotional and stress management skills could reduce one’s overall life satisfaction. Res. Public Health 2020, 17, 5489; doi:10.3390/ijerph17155489 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
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