Dietary intake of persons with depressive and psychotic disorders in Singapore

Measuring social desirability bias in a multi-ethnic cohort sample: its relationship with self-reported physical activity, dietary habits, and factor structure

BACKGROUND

Social desirability bias is one of the oldest forms of response bias studied in social sciences. While individuals may feel the need to fake good or bad answers in response to sensitive or intrusive questions, it remains unclear how rampant such a bias is in epidemiological research pertaining to self-reported lifestyle indicators in a multicultural Asian context. The main purpose of the current study is, therefore, to examine the sociodemographic correlates and impact of social desirability responding on self-reported physical activity and dietary habits at an epidemiological scale in a non-western multi-cultural Asian setting.

METHODS

Prior to the main analyses, confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were conducted to determine the factorial validity of a western derived concept of social desirability. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on cross-sectional data (n = 2995) extracted from a nationwide survey conducted between 2019 and 2020.

RESULTS

A unique factor structure of social desirability was found and was therefore used for subsequent analyses. Multiple regression analyses revealed older age groups, the Indian ethnic group, those with past or present marriages, and having no income, had a significantly greater tendency to act on the bias.

CONCLUSION

The construct of social desirability bias was fundamentally different in a multicultural context than previously understood. Only a small proportion of variance of self-report lifestyle scores was explained by social desirability, thus providing support for data integrity.

Associations between adherence to the Taiwan Daily Food Guide and psychiatric morbidity: A population-based study in Taiwan

BACKGROUND

Mental health has become a public health concern worldwide, and the number of affected individuals is rising. Therefore, further research must be conducted to identify potential risk factors to develop optimal prevention strategies to mitigate mental health disorders.

METHODS

Using Taiwanese Nutrition and Health Survey data collected from 2013-2016, we conducted a cross-sectional study to examine whether adherence to the Taiwan Daily Food Guide affects mental health conditions. Study participants were adults aged ≥19 years. The dietary assessment was conducted using a validated food frequency questionnaire. The presence of psychiatric morbidity was defined as a five-item Brief Symptom Rating Scale (BSRS-5) score of ≥10. Logistic regression models were used to determine whether Taiwan Daily Food Guide adherence was related to the presence of psychiatric morbidity.

RESULTS

After adjusting for potential confounders, we observed protective associations between adherence to the Taiwan Daily Food Guide and psychiatric morbidity risk.

CONCLUSION

The Taiwan Daily Food Guide might reduce the risk associated with psychiatric morbidity and could be a reference for developing a national food guide for mental health.