Abstract
BACKGROUND: Dietary diversity is defined as the number of food groups or items consumed over a reference period, and usually, it is a problem in developing countries including Ethiopia. Inadequate dietary diversity is one of a major public health problem and can result in physical, emotional, and psychological changes among adolescents. However, studies on dietary diversity among school children were very limited. Hence, this study aimed at determining dietary diversity practices and factors among adolescents in Dembia district. METHODS: A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 1 to April 15, 2017, at Dembia district, northwest Ethiopia. A total of 474 study subjects were selected using the multi-stage sampling technique. A structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect the data. Dietary diversity was measured through standard tool adopted from Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance (FANTA) 2016 using the 24-h recall method. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was employed to identify factors associated with a diversified diet. RESULT: This study illustrated that 32.3% (95% CI 27.9-36.8) of the adolescents had adequate dietary diversity. Inadequate dietary diversity was significantly associated with being Muslim (AOR = 0.3; 95% CI 0.1-0.7), self-employment (AOR = 0.3; 95% CI 0.1-0.9), middle (AOR = 0.5; 95% CI 0.3-0.8) and high wealth category (AOR = 0.3; 95% CI 0.2-0.6), and underweight (AOR = 3.5; 95% CI 1.3-9.5). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study showed that only one-third of adolescent girls have adequate dietary diversity. Low level of dietary diversification suggested points to the need for strengthening efforts targeting to improve the healthy dietary practice of adolescents by giving due attention to poor households and undernourished adolescents.