Depression, sleep disturbance and unhealthy eating habits among Italian adolescents

Background: With obesity on the rise in Italy, it is important to investigate the determinants of unhealthy eating habits among youth populations. Studies have shown depression and sleep disturbances to be associated with a number of unhealthy eating habits. This investigation evaluated the possible mediating effect of depression among sleep disturbances and unhealthy eating (emotional eating, over eating) among Italian adolescents. Methods: The sample consisted of 302 Italian high school adolescents (48% female), ages 15-19 years (mean age = 17.4 (S.D. = 1.4)), living in the northwest of Italy. Cross-sectional linear regressions were used to explore the associations of among our variables of interest. The Sobel test for mediation was used to explore possible mediation effects of depression between sleep disturbances and unhealthy dietary practices. Results: The Sobel test for mediation showed that depression fully mediated the relationship between sleep disturbance and emotional eating, (z = 3.79, p < .001); depression also fully mediated the relationship between sleep disturbance and over eating, (z = 2.45, p < .01). Conclusion: While the health benefits of sleep are universal, further investigation is needed which could further enhance our understanding of the role that such behavior has on unhealthy dietary practices, especially when investigating its concurrent effect with psychological disturbances. Such findings could greatly assist investigators to understand the complex causal determinants of unhealthy dietary practices for the development of universal prevention efforts of early obesity.