The effect of mindfulness intervention on high school students’ eating habits and body image perceptions

During the high school period covering adolescence, factors such as exam stress, adaptation to adolescence, and social media may cause adolescents to engage in bad eating behaviors and have a negative attitude towards their own bodies. This experimental study aimed to evaluate the effect of (short) mindfulness interventions on high school students eating habits and body image. The sample consisted of a total of 60 tenth grade students (intervention group n = 30, control group n = 30) studying at a high school in Istanbul. The Information Form, the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire, the Body Appreciation Scale and the Body Image Coping Strategies Inventory were used to collect the data. The in-group comparisons of pretest, posttest, and follow-up scores of the intervention group indicated an increase in the restrained eating behavior, body appreciation, and positive rational acceptance scores and a decrease in the emotional-external eating, appearance fixing, and avoidance scores (p < 0.001). The inter-group comparisons indicated that the posttest and follow-up restrained eating, body appreciation, positive rational acceptance scores of the intervention group were high (p < 0.05) but that their emotional-external eating, appearance fixing, and avoidance scores were low compared to the control group (p < 0.05). It was determined that the mindfulness intervention could be effective on high school students' eating habits, body appreciation, and body image coping strategies. It is recommended that technique is used to prepare teenagers to the changes occurred in their bodies, to reduce stress and negative attitudes towards themselves and their bodies, and ensure that they become aware of themselves.