The Relationship of Parental Mental Health and Dietary Pattern With Adolescent Mental Health

Abstract

Background: Today, ensuring people’s health and well-being has become a concern for societies. Health status results from an interaction of an individuals’ various psychological, social, and physical aspects. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the relationship of parental mental health and dietary pattern with adolescent mental health. Patients and Methods: In this study, 250 high school students in Shiraz were selected using random cluster sampling. The samples were analyzed using the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28). Results: According to the findings, parental mental health explains 22% of the variance in children’s mental health, so that in simultaneous regression, physical dimensions, anxiety, social functioning, and depression predicted 13%, 24%, 11%, and 24% of the variance of criterion variables, respectively. No significant relationship was observed between dietary pattern and adolescent mental health dimensions. There was a significant negative relationship only between depression and vegetable intake. Moreover, fruit (r = 0.15, P < 0.05) and vegetable (r = 0.16, P < 0.05) intake had a significant relationship with parental mental health dimensions. Conclusions: Parents’ mental health and their psychological characteristics can be related to children’s mental health and affect their dietary intake patterns.