Evaluating the Association of Anxiety, Depression, and Diet With Gastrointestinal Pain in Young College Adults

Introduction College stress can often lead to poor diet choices that negatively impact health. This study explored the association of anxiety, depression, and diet with gastrointestinal pain and gastrointestinal quality of life in college students. Methods College students (N=312, 96% female, 4% male) enrolled in an introductory biology course completed an online survey to measure anxiety, depression, diet quality, gastrointestinal quality of life, and bowl disease. Results A total of 52% of students reported abdominal pain the prior year. Associations were found between abdominal pain and diet quality, gastrointestinal quality of life, depression, and anxiety scores. Students reporting abdominal pain reported lower diet scores, worse gastrointestinal quality of life scores, elevated depression, and anxiety scores. Significant predictors of pain were diet and depression. Conclusions Abdominal pain was significantly associated with diet, depression, and gastrointestinal quality of life. This has important implications for the health and well-being of college students and underscores the need for mental health resources for all college students.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  AJPM Focus

• Publication date

  2025-05-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.focus.2025.100358PMID 40673009PMCID 12264610
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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