Rashid, Nurul Miza Mohd and Norhasmi, Nur Najlaa Fayyadhah
(2025)
Psychological and economic factors in relation to poor dietary habits among Malaysian B40 youths.
e-Bangi: Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, 22 (4).
pp. 441-456.
E-ISSN 1823-884x
Abstract
One of the main concerns related to health for Malaysians is the widespread poor dietary habits. The underlying reasons could be attributed to economic and psychological factors. Based on past literature, it is found that low income, loneliness and distress could potentially collectively contribute to poor dietary choices. The present research aims to examine the potential associations between economic and psychological factors with poor dietary habits among B40 youths in Malaysia. The research successfully recruited 397 B40 Malaysian youths aged between 21 and 39 years to complete a cross-sectional survey. The results from mediation analysis confirmed our initial prediction, which is that higher income could lower chances of the consumption of unhealthy foods (B = −0.05, p = .03), but psychological insecurities, such as distress (B = 0.01, p = .02) and loneliness (B = 0.01, p = .03), would cause an opposing outcome. The findings of this research further contribute to the current understanding and common conception that the limitations of healthy diets among low-income groups may result from economic constraints and psychological limitations. However, the effect sizes are almost negligible, and the mediation analysis revealed that there are no significant interaction effects between income with psychological distress (B = −0.00, p = .54) and loneliness (B = −0.00, p = .0.98). It is recommended that future research explore the connection between income and psychological factors that precede poor dietary habits, utilising different measures and recruiting a larger sample to confirm the present research's findings.
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