breakfast skipping, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, attentional impulsivity, attentional control, youth mental health, Psychiatry, RC435-571

IntroductionBreakfast skipping is common among young people, although previous work has suggested its negative influences on cognitive and executive functions and mental health outcomes. Whether reduced impulse control, particularly in the cognitive domain, would be a mechanism that links breakfast skipping to elevated psychiatric symptoms remains to be investigated.MethodsWe used data from 3154 young people (aged 15–25 years) in the Hong Kong Youth Epidemiological Study of Mental Health 2019–2022. Participants were asked about their general breakfast consumption habits, impulsivity (overall and its subdomains, using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale–11), depressive symptoms (Patient Health Questionnaire–9), anxiety symptoms (Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale–7), and functioning (reduced and lost productivity due to mental health problems, and the observer-rated Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale). Impulsivity and its subdomains were tested for their potential mediating influences between breakfast skipping frequency and symptom outcomes. Sociodemographic variables, psychiatric history, and eating disorder symptoms were adjusted for in all mediation models.ResultsThe weighted prevalence of daily breakfast consumption and breakfast skipping (defined as no breakfast consumption at all) was 33% and 14.2%, respectively. More frequent breakfast skipping was associated with higher levels of impulsivity, specifically in terms of attentional control (r=0.14) and self-control (r=0.13), and depressive symptoms (r=0.14), all p