Relationship between Religious Attitude and Nutritional Behavior in High School Students of Yazd

Children and adolescents are vital to the future of every country. Therefore, meeting their health-related needs would increase the likelihood of adults' healthy and deserved life in the future. In this regard, the present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between religious attitude and nutritional behavior in high school students in Yazd, Iran.

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 500 students in Yazd (250 female and 250 male). They were selected by random sampling method and in proportion to the number of students in each school in the academic year of 2018. The data collection tool included Sarajzadeh's religious attitudes questionnaire and Standard Nutritional Behavior questioner. Data were analyzed in SPSS software (version 24) using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation coefficient.

Mean and standard deviation of religious attitude and nutritional behavior of participants were reported as 72.25±4.67 and 75.55±3.14, respectively. The results were indicative of a positive correlation between religious attitude and nutritional behavior (P=0.00; R=0.88). Nonetheless, no significant relationship was observed between religious attitudes and economic status (0.04). In the same vein, nutritional behavior showed no significant relationship with gender (0.03).

From the results presented in the current study, it can be concluded that the higher religious attitude leads to more favorable nutritional behavior. Therefore, it seems that the propagation and implementation of religious orders and rituals can help improve the nutritional behavior of adolescents in society.