Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of eating habits, physical activity, nutrition knowledge and self-efficacy levels on obesity. The participants of the research were the students of Kafkas University Physical Education and Sports College and Sarikamis Vocational School. Research includes eating habits, physical activity (PA), nutrition knowledge and self-efficacy questionnaire. The cases were divided into normal weight (NW) and overweight - obese (OW) groups based on age, gender, and body mass index percentages. The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS. According to the findings; approximately 35.5% of participants were identified as overweight or obese. Significant differences were observed between the OW and NW groups in terms of gender, weight control (P <0.01). OW group women were found to exhibit less desirable behaviors compared to NW. In comparison between OW group and NW group, it was determined that women participated in less physical activity than men. There was no significant difference in nutritional information between OW and NW groups. In particular, the self-efficacy level of the PA was significantly lower in the OW group than in the NW group (P <0.01). Conclusion: this study reveals eating habits, PA and self-efficacy differences among university students. It should focus on improving the self-efficacy of university students, changing eating habits and increasing PA levels by organizing programs to combat obesity.
Highlights
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report, the prevalence of obesity doubled worldwide between 1980 and 2014 [30]
Participants were found to have an average age of 21.97 and approximately 64.5% (142) of them were in the normal weight (NW) group and 35.5% (78) of them were in the overweight - obesity (OW)
This study shows that; physical activity variables in women and men were significantly different between OW
Summary
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report, the prevalence of obesity doubled worldwide between 1980 and 2014 [30]. The increasing risk of chronic illness due to changes in nutrition habits by university students is not adequately considered. Obesity in college students is seen as the first indication of the risk of future chronic diseases of obesity [15]. For this reason, it is very important to actively control obesity from the first years of university. The cause of obesity is complicated, nutrition habits or lifestyle play an important role in the development of obese conditions [13, 19]. Physical activity deficiency and inadequate nutrition of university students are considered as an important public health problem. There are reports that 50% of university students are not at the recommended level of physical activity [13, 22]
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