Background: Many adolescents suffer from common mental disorders such as stress,
which affects health through the psychosocial process, eating behavior, food choices and
physical activity.. Aim: this study aims to assess the stress and dietary pattern effect on
overweight and obesity among technical nursing students. Design: A descriptive relational
research design was conduct this study. Setting: This study was conducted at all nursing
institutes of Cairo Curative Organization's Hospitals (Heliopolis Hospital, Mabarret Masr Al-
Qadimah Hospital, Mabara El Maadi Hospital, Coptic Hospital and El-Islah El-Islamy
Hospital). Sample: Purposive sample of 85 overweight and obese students. Tools of data
collection: Interview questionnaire (Socio-demographic data and feeding pattern data),
compulsive Eating Scale and perceived Stress Scale. Results: Results of the study showed
that, more than half of technical nursing students under study had positive family history of
obesity and one third of them were obese and had high compulsivity level. Conclusions:
More than three quarters of technical nursing students under study had moderate level of
stress, and there was a positive correlation between dietary pattern and level of stress and a
positive correlation between overweight, obesity and
level of stress. Recommendations:
Future studies should be done on large numbers of
nursing students about their eating
behavior and how they decrease their stress level.