Mindful Eating: Is There a Relationship among Gender, Age, Physical Activity, Grade Level, Focus of Academic Major and Eating Mindfulness among College Students

Abstract

Mindful eating is the concept of being physically and emotionally aware of what and why you are eating. Currently the research is limited, especially in a large college aged population. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine if age, gender, physical activity, year in school and focus of academic major made a difference in mindful eating practices in college students. In this cross-sectional study, 427 students completed a 28-item validated Mindful Eating Questionnaire. The results show that only gender played a role in the total mindful eating score. Combined effects of the factors did affect total score as well as subscale scores. These findings suggest that a combination of factors affect mindful eating more than one factor alone. More research is needed in large college aged populations in order to better determine mindful eating practices of individuals in this age group.