Investigation of Nutrition Knowledge and Eating Behaviors of Sports High School Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71350/ijpanh.41Keywords:
Adolescent, Eating Behavior, Nutritional Knowledge, Sports High SchoolAbstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the nutritional knowledge levels and eating behaviors of sports high school students, and to examine whether these parameters vary across various demographic variables. The research was designed as a correlational survey model, which is a quantitative research methodology. A total of 214 individuals (148 males and 66 females) studying at Trabzon Sports High School in the 2024–2025 academic term formed the participant sample. Data collection instruments included two tools: the "Scale for Determining Nutritional Knowledge of Adolescents" and the "Scale for Determining Eating Behaviors of Adolescents." Once the data were confirmed to satisfy the normal distribution assumption, the analysis was conducted using t-tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and correlation analyses. The results of the study revealed that the differences in the scores of both scales based on the gender variable were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Students living with their families were found to have significantly higher nutritional knowledge scores than those staying in the school dormitory (p < 0.05). The nutritional knowledge levels of 11th-grade students were found to be significantly higher than those of 9th and 10th-grade students (p<0.05). No statistically significant relationship was found between the students' nutritional knowledge levels and their eating behaviors or sub-dimensions (p>0.05). These outcomes indicate that although the Sports and Nutrition course offered in the 11th-grade sports high school curriculum successfully enhanced students' theoretical knowledge, it fell short of positively transforming or regulating their actual eating behaviors.
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