The relationship between eating out, sedentary lifestyle, and breakfast habits on the nutritional status of Gen Z in Depok

Abstract Gen Z grows up with advanced technology and easy access to internet, which may lead to issues such as increased food consumption outside the home, sedentary activities, and irregular breakfast habits. These factors may contribute the obesity rates among Gen Z. This study set out to examine the relationship between Generation Z’s nutritional health in Depok, West Java, and factors including their breakfast habits, level of sedentary behavior, and frequency of eating out. An observational study with a cross-sectional design was utilized for the technique. A total of 107 participants, ranging in age from 12 to 27 years old, were chosen for the study using strict inclusion and exclusion criteria. In order to collect data, questionnaires were used. A statistically significant correlation between breakfast behaviors and nutritional status was found (r = -0.210), with a p-value of 0.030. However, no significant relationship were found between the frequency of eating out (p-value = 0,146), the prices of commonly purchased food items (p-value =0,475), and the frequency of using online food delivery services (p-value = 0,788) with nutritional status. Additionally, no significant relationship were observed between a sedentary lifestyle, categorized by activities such as watching TV and other entertainment (weekdays: p-value = 0.499; weekends: p-value = 0.275), gaming (weekdays: p-value = 0.327; weekends: p-value = 0,649), and doing homework or internet use (weekdays: p-value = 0.147; weekends: p-value = 0.257) with nutritional status. This study concludes that breakfast consumption frequency is inversely connected to nutritional status, whereas no significant correlation is found between dining out, a sedentary lifestyle, and nutritional health.