During the pandemic, people have changed their diet and lifestyle, which are highly important to maintain health and well-being. This study aims to investigate the relationship between demographic, socioeconomic, dietary and lifestyle characteristics and adolescents' adherence to the Mediterranean diet (AMD).
In all, 2088 youth from Attica, Greece, 12–18 years old, were recruited in this school-based, cross-sectional study conducted in May–December 2021. The tools Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for children and adolescents, the Family Affluence Scale III and the Godin-Shephard Leisure Time Physical Activity Questionnaire were used to estimate AMD, family affluence and the levels of physical activity (PA), respectively. Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis, Chi-square tests, analysis of variance and multiple linear regression approaches were applied.
Empirical results showed that boys (p = 0.000), higher socioeconomic status (p = 0.034) and higher maternal education (p = 0.026) emerged as significant determinants for higher AMD. In addition, healthier dietary patterns (p = 0.000), PA (p = 0.000), more social lifestyle (p = 0.000) and night sleep duration (p = 0.000) were also positively correlated to diet quality. On the contrary, age (p = 0.000), screen time (p = 0.003) and the negative consequences of COVID-19 affected adversely AMD among adolescents.
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study was the first that highlighted the important role of several demographic, socioeconomic, dietary and lifestyle characteristics, together with the COVID-19 consequences to the AMD among secondary school children in Greece.
