Vol. 5, Issue 1, Part A (2023)

The present study investigates the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and eating behaviors among female students from the Department of Physical Education. SES is known to influence access to resources, education, and lifestyle, which in turn affect dietary habits and food-related behaviors. The study examines eight key eating behaviors: hunger, food responsiveness, emotional over-eating, enjoyment of food, satiety responsiveness, emotional under-eating, food fussiness, and slowness in eating. Data were collected using the Socio-Economic Scale (Kuppuswamy, 1976) and the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire (Claudia et al., 2015). The sample consisted of 85 female students categorized into lower, middle, and upper SES groups. Statistical analysis was performed using One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's HSD post-hoc test to assess differences in eating behaviors across these SES groups.
Results revealed significant differences in satiety responsiveness, food fussiness, and slowness in eating between SES groups. The upper SES group demonstrated higher satiety responsiveness, greater food fussiness, and slower eating behaviors compared to the lower and middle SES groups. No significant differences were found for hunger, food responsiveness, emotional over-eating, enjoyment of food, or emotional under-eating. These findings suggest that socio-economic factors may influence specific eating behaviors, such as food selection and eating speed, which have implications for understanding dietary patterns and informing public health interventions aimed at promoting healthier eating across different socio-economic groups.