title: The relationship between self-rated health status and the overall quality of dietary intake of US adolescents.
abstract: The objective of this study was to compare the quality of overall dietary intake of US adolescents by self-rated health status. Using 2 nonconsecutive days of dietary recall data and responses to a single question describing self-rated health status from the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals 1994-1996, linear regression analysis was used to detect differences in Healthy Eating Index (HEI) scores by self-rated health status for 1,504 adolescents, ages 11 to 18 years. After adjusting for factors related to both overall dietary quality and self-rated health status, overall HEI scores did not differ by self-reported health status. However, two individual HEI component scores were found to be significantly related to adolescent self-rated health status: the vegetables score (P=0.01) was higher among those with positive self-rated health status, and the total fat score (P=0.01) was higher among those with negative self-rated health status. Self-perception of health status is not related to the overall quality of the adolescent diet; therefore, food and nutrition professionals should focus on understanding motivators other than health status when exploring adolescent dietary behaviors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family and Consumer Sciences, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, AL, USA.
authors.forename: Debra K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Goodwin
authors.forename: Linda L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Knol
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Eddy
authors.forename: Eugene C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Fitzhugh
authors.forename: Olivia W
authors.initials: OW
authors.lastname: Kendrick
authors.forename: Roberta E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Donahue
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D053198:Child Nutrition Sciences / Q000193:education*; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012649:Self Concept; D014675:Vegetables
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats