The relationships of eating and physical activity behaviors with perceived stress among college students
Description
TitleThe relationships of eating and physical activity behaviors with perceived stress among college students
Date Created2022
Other Date2022-05 (degree)
Extent66 pages
DescriptionPerceived stress may impact health behaviors, and is of concern for college students, a highly stressed population. However, limited research has explored the relationships of eating and physical activity behaviors with perceived stress among college students. This thesis was a secondary data analysis from a cross-sectional study that investigated sleep, eating, and physical activity behaviors among undergraduate health sciences students at a university located in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada in the Winter of 2018. Undergraduate health sciences students were recruited via a research listserv e-mail but only women were included in this analytical sample. Participants (N=215; mean age 23.03±7.34SD years; 94% full-time) completed an online survey that utilized valid and reliable eating (e.g., TFEQ-18, Satter Eating Competence, NCI Fruit and Vegetable Screener) and physical activity behavior (i.e., International Physical Activity Questionnaire) measures along with sociodemographic and health characteristic items. Stress was measured using the Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale, a validated 10-item questionnaire that measures how stressful, unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overwhelming subjects consider their current conditions of life in the past month. The prevalence of low, moderate, and high perceived stress was 14.9% (n=215), 67% (n=215), and 18.1% (n=215), respectively, among women using the traditional PSS cut-off scores. Due to small cell sizes, a median split approach (median = 21) was used to categorize women university students into relatively low (0 to ≤21 score) and high (>21 to 40) perceived stress level groups. Internal consistency for all scales was satisfactory (i.e., Cronbach α coefficient range 0.72 to 0.88). Separate binary logistic regression analyses adjusting for body mass index revealed significant associations in those with relatively high perceived stress level for all eating behavior scales, except for daily servings of fruits and vegetables and weekly intake of alcohol. Those with relatively high perceived stress levels were significantly (p<0.05) more likely to have greater mean scores for cognitive restraint (OR=1.01 [95% CI=1.00-1.03]), emotional eating (OR=1.02 [95% CI=1.01-1.03]), uncontrolled eating (OR=1.02 [95% CI=1.01-1.04]), weekly caffeine intake (OR=1.18 [95% CI=1.06-1.32]), and lower mean scores for eating attitudes (OR=0.88 [95% CI=0.81-0.96]), food acceptance (OR=0.87 [95% CI=0.77-0.98]), internal regulation (OR=0.81 [95% CI=0.70-0.93]), and contextual skills (OR=0.84 [95% CI=0.77-0.93]) compared to participants with relatively low perceived stress levels. No significant physical activity behavior differences were found between perceived stress groups. Overall, high levels of perceived stress was associated with unhealthy eating behaviors among women university students. Findings suggest prevention and intervention strategies to cope with high stress levels among women college students are warranted.
NoteM.S.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses
LanguageEnglish
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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