The relationship between fear of COVID-19 and food choice motives in the Iranian population

• Published in: PloS one 2024-08, Vol.19 (8), p.e0308689
• Main Authors: Hoseinean, Seyyed-Ali, Rahmani, Bita, Alizadeh, Ahad, Javadi, Maryam, Nooripour, Roghieh, Razzazi, Atieh, Shiri-Shahsavar, Mohammad Reza
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Biology and Life Sciences; Choice Behavior; Cooperation; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - psychology; COVID-19 vaccines; Cross-Sectional Studies; Demographic variables; Demographics; Demography; Dependent variables; Disease transmission; Eating behavior; Emotions; Epidemics; Ethics; Familiarity; Fear; Fear - psychology; Feeding Behavior - psychology; Female; Food; Food preferences; Food Preferences - psychology; Food prices; Health facilities; Humans; Immunization; Independent variables; Iran - epidemiology; Male; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mental health; Middle Aged; Motivation; Pandemics; Participation; Personal information; Population; Population (statistical); Population studies; Questionnaires; Research and Analysis Methods; Sampling methods; SARS-CoV-2; Social Sciences; Statistical analysis; Statistical methods; Surveys and Questionnaires; Variance analysis; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0308689

The long-term impact of COVID-19 on nutrition and community health is inevitably noticeable. These effects can change the nutritional behavior and lifestyle of survivors. Due to the COVID consequential fear and anxiety, the pandemic can alter the motivations for choosing, buying, and consuming food. The relationship between nutritional behavior and COVID-19 fear is the primary purpose of this research. This cross-sectional study was conducted via online and face-to-face surveys. Accessing participants was through health centers of Qazvin, Iran, and the selected centers were sampled by cluster sampling method. The study population included 331 adults aged 18 to 65. Data were collected in three sections using valid questionnaires. The Demographic Questionnaire, FCV-19S, and FCQ were used to gather demographic information, the level of fear caused by COVID-19, and food choice motivations, respectively. The statistical analyzes were performed using R software. Analysis of variance and linear regression methods were used to determine the effect of independent variables on dependent variables (p = 0.05). The mean score of fear of COVID-19 in the study population was 15.25 ± 5.78. Price, Mood, Natural content, Familiarity, Convenience, and Ethical concerns were significantly and positively associated with fear of COVID-19 (p