RESEARCH ARTICLE
Anxiety Status and Coping Strategies in Association with Sociodemographic Factors, Dietary and Lifestyle Habits in Greece
Maria Batsikoura1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2021Volume: 17
First Page: 152
Last Page: 160
Publisher ID: CPEMH-17-152
DOI: 10.2174/1745017902117010152
Article History:
Received Date: 15/7/2021Revision Received Date: 24/7/2021
Acceptance Date: 09/8/2021
Electronic publication date: 15/10/2021
Collection year: 2021
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Aim:
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between nutritional habits, lifestyle, anxiety, and coping strategies.
Background:
Anxiety is an underestimated and often undiagnosed subclinical disorder that burdens the general public of modern societies and increases illness suscentibility.
Methods:
The study group consisted of 693 individuals living in Peloponnese, Greece. A standardized questionnaire that consists of the dietary habits and lifestyle questionnaire, the trait Anxiety STAI-X-2 questionnaire and the brief-COPE questionnaire, was used. Principal components analysis identified the factors from the questionnaires, and stepwise multivariate regression analysis investigated their relationships.
Results:
Weekly consumption of fruits, tomatoes, salads and lettuce, together with Εmotional/Ιnstrumental support, Denial/Behavioural disengagement, substance use and self-blame, was the most important predictors of anxiety scores. Positive reframing/Humour and Acceptance/Planning are also associated with the Positive STAI factor and decreased anxiety scores.
Conclusion:
Healthy nutritional habits, comprised of consumption of salads and fruits, together with adaptive coping strategies, such as Positive reframing/Humour and Active problem solving, may provide the most profound improvement in the anxiety levels of a healthy population in Peloponnese, Greece.
