Diet and Lifestyle in the Spanish Population and Their Relationship with Sociodemographic Variables: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

A healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition have a major impact on the well-being of a population. Therefore, the aim of this research is to describe the behavior of these habits in relation to sociodemographic variables to provide data on the development of effective training and awareness-raising actions. Methods: An observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out. To study the behavior of a series of variables related to eating habits and lifestyle, a questionnaire was designed and validated and subsequently disseminated online, by means of nonprobabilistic snowball sampling, relying on social networks. The sample collected consisted of 18,070 young adults of Spanish nationality. Bivariate comparative analyses were performed using t-test independent samples, and the effect size (ES) was calculated by determining Cohen’s D coefficient. A multivariate analysis were conducted using linear regression and principal component analysis. Results: Adults eat better but have a poorer quality of rest and are more sedentary than young people. No gender differences were found in nutritional habits; however, men engage in more sports and sleep better. People with a higher educational level have better nutritional and sleep habits, but are more sedentary, as are people of a higher socioeconomic level. Conclusions: Higher socioeconomic and educational levels seem to favor a healthier lifestyle. The Spanish population aged 18–45 years needs to make dietary changes but leads an active lifestyle.

Keywords

• nutrition
• Spain population
• socioeconomic factors
• physical activity
• lifestyle