Aim: Breakfast plays an important role in the academic performance and mental health of adolescents. This study explored factors associated with breakfast skipping in high school students in South Korea.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was completed by 1684 high school students. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the factors associated with skipping breakfast, including sociodemographic factors, mental health problems (such as depression and anxiety), sleep and smartphone use patterns.
Results: A total of 29.2% of the adolescents reported skipping breakfast and girls were significantly more likely to skip breakfast than boys (P < .001). The breakfast skipping group spent more time using a smartphone on weekdays [mean (SD) = 186.2 (180.0) min/d] than the breakfast eating group [mean (SD) = 110.2 (111.5) min/d] (P < .001). The Korean scale for smartphone addiction (S-scale) score was higher in the breakfast skipping group (P = .006). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that female gender, poor academic performance (odds ratio (OR), 1.575; 95% CI, 1.166-2.126, P = .003), depression (OR, 1.023; 95% CI, 1.002-1.043, P = .031), time spent using a smartphone on weekdays (OR, 1.003; 95% CI, 1.002-1.004, P < .001), and low parental monitoring of smartphone use were significantly associated with skipping breakfast.
Conclusions: Findings indicate that unhealthy lifestyle including smartphone overuse negatively affects breakfast eating in adolescents. School-based nutritional programs should be designed to assess and overcome various individual factors associated with breakfast skipping.
Keywords: adolescent; breakfast; depression; parental monitoring; smartphone use.
© 2020 Dietitians Australia.