The Dietary Patterns of High School Students in Medan City are Influenced by Perceptions of Stunting

Introduction: Data from WHO shows that Indonesia ranks third in the highest prevalence of stunting in Southeast Asia with an average prevalence of 36.4%. This study aims to explore the relationship between perceptions of stunting and dietary patterns of high school students in Medan city, Indonesia.

Methods: This research is a non-experimental descriptive-analytic study with a cross-sectional design by observing primary data through questionnaires and then analyzing using Chi-Square.

Results: The results of this study from 110 samples found that there were significant results (P=0.031) between the relationship between perceptions of stunting and female diet patterns. The result above shows that 77 high school youth (70%) have a poor perception of stunting in Medan City, and 33 people (30%) are good. Meanwhile, the dietary patterns of high school adolescents in Medan City who were classified as poor were 76 people (69.1%), and as good were 34 people (30.9%). All samples were tested with purposive sampling of 110 students.

Conclusion: There is a significant relationship between perceptions of stunting and diet patterns of high school students in Medan City.