Fast Food Consumption, Lifestyle, and Employees’ Mental Health: Impact Workplace Food Security and Sustainable Food Resilience
Abstract
This study aims to examine the influence of fast-food consumption and lifestyle on the mental health of permanent employees in manufacturing companies and to discuss its implications for workplace food security. A quantitative approach was employed involving 121 permanent employees from manufacturing companies in Indonesia, selected using a total sampling technique. The research instruments included a fast-food consumption scale, a lifestyle questionnaire covering activity, interest, and opinion dimensions, and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38) to assess mental health. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression. The novelty of this study lies in its integration of fast-food consumption, lifestyle, employee mental health, and workplace food security within the context of manufacturing companies, an area that has received limited empirical attention in Indonesia. Furthermore, this study extends the discussion of employee mental health by highlighting its connection not only with psychological factors but also with lifestyle patterns and food-related conditions in the workplace. The findings indicate that fast-food consumption and lifestyle jointly have a significant effect on employees’ mental health (p = 0.014 < 0.05). Partial analysis reveals that fast-food consumption does not significantly influence mental health (p = 0.070 > 0.05), whereas lifestyle has a positive and significant effect (p = 0.000 < 0.05). These findings suggest that maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle contributes more substantially to employees’ psychological well-being than fast-food consumption alone. The practical implications emphasize the need for manufacturing companies in Indonesia to integrate health promotion initiatives, nutrition education, and healthy lifestyle programs into organizational policies to improve employee mental health and strengthen food security in the workplace.
Keywords: fast-food consumption; lifestyle; employee mental health; workplace food security; manufacturing employees; Indonesia.
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