Sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with breakfast skipping among high school students

Breakfast plays an important role in the academic performance and mental health of adolescents. This study explored factors associated with breakfast skipping in high school students in South Korea.

A cross-sectional survey was completed by 1684 high school students. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the factors associated with skipping breakfast, including sociodemographic factors, mental health problems (such as depression and anxiety), sleep and smartphone use patterns.

A total of 29.2% of the adolescents reported skipping breakfast and girls were significantly more likely to skip breakfast than boys (P < .001). The breakfast skipping group spent more time using a smartphone on weekdays [mean (SD) = 186.2 (180.0) min/d] than the breakfast eating group [mean (SD) = 110.2 (111.5) min/d] (P < .001). The Korean scale for smartphone addiction (S-scale) score was higher in the breakfast skipping group (P = .006). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that female gender, poor academic performance (odds ratio (OR),  1.575; 95% CI,  1.166-2.126, P = .003), depression (OR,  1.023; 95% CI,  1.002-1.043, P = .031), time spent using a smartphone on weekdays (OR,  1.003; 95% CI,  1.002-1.004, P < .001), and low parental monitoring of smartphone use were significantly associated with skipping breakfast.

Findings indicate that unhealthy lifestyle including smartphone overuse negatively affects breakfast eating in adolescents. School-based nutritional programs should be designed to assess and overcome various individual factors associated with breakfast skipping.