eating behaviors vs. bmi: which is more related with health-related quality of life? a cross-sectional study on iranian female adolescents

Background: with the increasing prevalence of obesity among adolescents, many studies have been conducted on the impact of body mass index (bmi) on adolescents’ healthrelated quality of life. the objective of this research was to study the association among eating behavior constructs, anthropometric parameters of bmi, and healthrelated quality of life (hrqol). methods: random cluster sampling was employed to select 250 female high school students and their mothers in six schools located in district 3 of tehran, iran, in october 2017. the research tools were: child eating behavior questionnaire (cebq), short form of healthrelated quality of life questionnaire for children and adolescents (kidscreen10), and bmi measurements. data were analyzed by pearson correlation coefficient and analysis of variance. results: the findings of the research showed a significant indirect correlation between certain practices of eating behavior with hrqol variables such as emotional overeating (r=“0.13”, p=0.038) and emotional undereating (r=“0.14”, p=0.022); a weak significant indirect correlation was further observed between slowness in eating (r=“0.11”, p=”0.078”) and variables of hrqol. the results showed no association between bmi and hrqol. conclusion: the present study showed that controlling behaviors such as slowness in eating, emotional overeating, and emotional undereating are able to significantly improve the quality of life regardless of anthropometric indices. eating behaviors ultimately make up a major component of adolescents’ lifestyle; therefore, they play a key role in improving their quality of life.