Association between Breakfast Consumption and Depressive Symptoms among Chinese College Students: A Cross-Sectional and Prospective Cohort Study

Zhongyu Ren, Jianhua Cao, Peng Cheng, Dongzhe Shi, Bing Cao, Guang Yang, Siyu Liang, Fang Du, Nan Su, Miao Yu, Chaowei Zhang, Yaru Wang, Rui Liang, Liya Guo and Li Peng
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Zhongyu Ren: College of Physical Education, Key Laboratory of Physical Fitness Evaluation and Motor Function Monitoring, General Administration of Sport of China, Institute of Sports Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Jianhua Cao: College of Physical Education, Key Laboratory of Physical Fitness Evaluation and Motor Function Monitoring, General Administration of Sport of China, Institute of Sports Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Peng Cheng: College of Physical Education, Chongqing Nursing Vocational College, Chongqing 402763, China
Dongzhe Shi: Department of Physical Education, Xinhua College of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510520, China
Bing Cao: Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Faculty of Psychology, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Guang Yang: School of Physical Education, Chinese Center of Exercise Epidemiology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Siyu Liang: School of Physical Education, Chinese Center of Exercise Epidemiology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Fang Du: School of Physical Education, Chinese Center of Exercise Epidemiology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Nan Su: School of Physical Education, Chinese Center of Exercise Epidemiology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Miao Yu: School of Physical Education, Chinese Center of Exercise Epidemiology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Chaowei Zhang: School of Physical Education, Chinese Center of Exercise Epidemiology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Yaru Wang: School of Physical Education, Chinese Center of Exercise Epidemiology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Rui Liang: School of Physical Education, Chinese Center of Exercise Epidemiology, Northeast Normal University, Changchun 130024, China
Liya Guo: College of Physical Education, Key Laboratory of Physical Fitness Evaluation and Motor Function Monitoring, General Administration of Sport of China, Institute of Sports Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Li Peng: College of Physical Education, Key Laboratory of Physical Fitness Evaluation and Motor Function Monitoring, General Administration of Sport of China, Institute of Sports Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 5, 1-10

Abstract: Skipping breakfast has been suggested to increase the risk of depressive symptoms, but there is no information regarding young adults. We aimed to investigate the relationship between the frequency of breakfast consumption and the risk of depressive symptoms among Chinese college students. We investigated a cross-sectional ( n = 1060) and one-year prospective ( n = 757) relationship between the frequency of breakfast consumption and the risk of depressive symptoms. The frequency of breakfast consumption was categorized into “≤1 time/week”, “2–5 times/week”, or “≥6 times/week”. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the 20-item Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS) with an SDS score of ≥50 to indicate moderate to severe depressive symptoms. In the cross-sectional analysis, the adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of depressive symptoms related with the breakfast consumption categories were 1.00 (reference) for ≥6 times/week, 1.761 (95% CI: 1.131, 2.742) for 2–5 times/week, and 3.780 (95% CI: 1.719, 8.311) for ≤1 time/week ( p for trend: <0.001) after adjusting for these potential confounders. Similarly, in the one-year prospective analysis, we found that 10.2% of participants was classified as having moderate to severe depressive symptoms. Multivariate logistic regressions analysis revealed a significant negative relationship between the frequency of breakfast consumption and the risk of depressive symptoms. The ORs (95% CI) for depressive symptoms with decreasing breakfast consumption frequency were 1.00 (reference) for ≥6 times/week, 2.045 (1.198, 3.491) for 2–5 times/week, and 2.722 (0.941, 7.872) for ≤1 time/week ( p for trend: 0.005). This one-year prospective cohort study showed that skipping breakfast is related to increased risk of depressive symptoms among Chinese college students. Future research using interventional or experimental studies is required to explore the causal relationship between the effects of breakfast consumption and depressive symptoms.

Keywords: breakfast; depressive symptoms; prospective study; college students (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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