Author(s): M Abirami and KS Pushpa

Abstract:
The adolescent period represents a time of extremely rapid growth and development accompanied by an increased need for energy and nutrients. The main objective of the study is t obtain general information on the personal, and socio-economic background of the selected adolescent girls, to assess the consumption of junk foods among the adolescent girls, and to validate the Diet Diversity Scores among the adolescent girls. A cross-sectional study was carried out in Government Higher Secondary in Thoppampatty block with a sample size of 30. A multistage simple random sampling technique was used and a structured close-ended questionnaire was used to find the frequency and percentage among them. The major findings of the study revealed that 26.6 % and 26.3 % of adolescent girls fall in the age group between 14 and 15 years and girls76.6% belonged to the early adolescent stage. Socioeconomic scores computed for the respondents revealed that 53.3% of them belonged to Upper Lower Class, and 40 %of them belonged to Lower Middle Class. All the adolescent girls were consuming junk foods in every place with different varieties in every part of their life. Stumpy healthy food choice is observed among adolescent girls. The study concludes that the eating habits of adolescents are important because when they settle down as adults, they have to establish the eating behaviour of a new family.