THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ANXIETY AND EATING BEHAVIOR ATTITUDE AMONG MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENTS

Adolescence is an age of particular developmental vulnerability wherein psychological variables such as anxiety have an important role to play in dietary behavior. The present research aims to analyze the relationship of anxiety with the attitude of middle school students toward eating, identifying how anxiety scores influence food choices, eating style, and nutrition. 300 middle school students were randomly drawn based on the stratified random sampling method in order to attain the representative sample in terms of a range of socio-economic categories and shhool settings. This study employed a quantitative design with standardized dietary and psychological measures. Spence children’s anxiety scale was used as an anxiety level, and the Children’s Eating Attitudes Test (CHEAT-26) as an eating attitudes behavior. Standard questionnaire was used to obtain demographic information, lifestyle factors, and self-reported eating habits. Data were gathered in a school environment with strict confidentiality procedures in place to enhance participant comfort and response validity. Results indicate a significant relationship between anxiety and eating disordered behavior. High anxiety students were higher in restrictive eating, emotional eating, and binge eating. A considerable number of participants indicated meal skipping, excessive consumption of junk food, or an abnormal preoccupation with body weight and shape. Additionally, gender differences emerged, and female students reported more eating disturbances related to anxiety than male students. The research demands early intervention programs incorporating mental health services and nutrition education. Mindfulness-based stress reduction courses, mental health counseling, and healthy eating courses need to be incorporated in schools so as to provide healthy food attitudes and treat related issues of anxiety. Parents and teachers need to come together to provide a healthy environment supportive of emotional health and healthy eating. this research highlights the complex relationship between mental health and food eating habits of middle school students. The results call for preventive interventions that focus on mental well-being and food intake to prevent future illness. Future research needs to examine longitudinal influences and the effect of interventions so that we better understand and are able to prevent the danger of eating behavior disorders due to anxiety.