Objective: This study aimed to determine the
relationship between eating awareness, eating attitudes,
eating behavior, and dietary habits with abdominal
obesity among adult women residing in the Güzelyurt
region.
Method: The research was conducted between January
2019 and May 2019 in the Güzelyurt district of the
Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, involving a total
of 350 adult individuals aged 25-59 years. Participants
were selected using a random sampling method.
Individual interviews were conducted to administer the
eating awareness scale, eating attitude test, eating
behavior scale, and record dietary consumption
frequency forms. Additionally, certain demographic and
anthropometric measurements were recorded.
Results: Participants aged between 25 and 35 years
constituted 40.2% of the study sample. Among the
participants, 67.4% were married, 27.1% were single,
and 5.4% were widowed. Educational levels varied, with
15.7% having primary education or below, 15.14%
having secondary education, 27.14% having high school
education, and 42.0% having university-level education.
A positive relationship (p<0.05) was observed between
waist-to-hip ratio values and scores obtained from the
Eating Attitude Test.
Conclusion: A negative linear relationship was found
between participants' waist circumference and scores on
the Eating Awareness Scale, and a positive linear
relationship was identified between the Unhealthy Eating
Behavior subscale scores from the Eating Attitude Test
and Eating Behavior Scale. As participants' scores on the
Eating Awareness Scale increased, waist circumference
decreased, and as Unhealthy Eating Behavior subscale
scores increased, waist circumference also increased. A
negative linear relationship (p<0.05) was established
between participants' hip circumference values and
scores on the Eating Awareness Scale, as well as between
the Unhealthy Eating Behavior subscale scores from the
Eating Behavior Scale. Consequently, as participants'
Eating Awareness Scale values increased, hip
circumference decreased, and as Unhealthy Eating
Behavior subscale scores increased, hip circumference
also increased. A statistically significant positive
relationship was observed between waist-to-hip ratio
values and scores obtained from the Eating Attitude Test.
As participants' scores on the Eating Attitude Test
increased, waist-to-hip ratio values also increased.
Keywords : Abdominal obesity, eating awareness, eating attitudes.