Sex Differences in Dieting Trends, Eating Habits, and Nutrition Beliefs of a Group of Midwestern College Students
Abstract
The influence of sex on dietary trends, eating habits, and nutrition self-assessment and beliefs of a group of college students at a large Midwestern university was investigated. A questionnaire was completed by 105 male and 181 female undergraduate students. Men had significantly higher (P<0.0001) height, weight, and body mass index values. Significantly higher percentages of women than men had tried a low-fat diet (P=0.0075) and a low-carbohydrate diet (P=0.0285). Significantly lower percentages of women than men had never tried a diet (P=0.0173). Significantly higher percentages of women than men reported gaining nutrition knowledge from family (P=0.0033) and magazines/newspapers (P=0.0345). Significantly higher percentages of women than men agreed that they had too much sugar in their diets (P=0.0157), that it is important to limit carbohydrate consumption (P=0.0077), that it is important to limit the amount of fat consumed to lose weight (P=0.0194), and that they needed to lose weight (P<0.0001). It is important to eat a variety of foods for good health according to 94.4% of subjects. Sex differences existed in these college students with regard to anthropometric measurements, certain choices of diets, some sources of nutrition knowledge, and some nutrition beliefs.
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The overrepresentation of females in the sample can be explained by the topic being of greater interest to females due to females being generally more interested in nutrition.
“the topic could have been of greater interest to females due to the fact that females are generally more interested in nutrition [52]”
From The association of demographic characteristics and food choice motives with the consumption of functional foods in emerging adults (2020) · cites this paper as [52]
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- Authors
- Davy, S. R., Benes, B. A., & Driskell, J. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US)
- Corresponding author
- Driskell, Judy A.
- Venue
- Journal of the American Dietetic Association
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2006-10
- Volume
- 106
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1673-1677
- ISSN
- 0002-8223 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1974933985
- Cited by
- 240
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 4.99
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of the American Dietetic Association (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health and Lifestyle Studies
- Keywords
- sex differences, dieting, dietary habits, nutrition beliefs, university students, low-fat diet, low-carbohydrate diet, body mass index, weight loss, sugar consumption, carbohydrate intake
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anthropometry, Attitude to Health, Diet Fads, Diet, Reducing, Eating, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sex Factors, Students, Midwestern United States, Weight Loss, Chi-Square Distribution, Diet, Fat-Restricted, Diet, Carbohydrate-Restricted
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