Korean J Community Nutr.  2011 Dec;16(6):672-682. 10.5720/kjcn.2011.16.6.672.

Comparisons of Body Image Perception, Health Related Lifestyle and Dietary Behavior Based on the Self-Rated Health of University Students in Seoul

• Kwak HK
• Lee MY
• Kim MJ

• KMID: 2267360
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2011.16.6.672

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the differences in perceived body weight and image and various lifestyles based on the self-rated health of university students when gender was adjusted. Five hundred fifty-five participants were asked their perceived health condition, and 58, 289, 160 and 48 students answered themselves as "very healthy", "healthy", "normal", and "unhealthy", respectively. As compared to the other 3 groups, "unhealthy" group showed higher proportions in dissatisfaction of body weight and negative perception of body image (P < 0.01). As health related lifestyles, "very healthy" group reported longer sleeping time than "unhealthy" group (P < 0.05), and had a higher proportion of people with regular exercise. Among the dietary behaviors, the frequencies of followings significantly different among the groups: "Regularity of meal time" (P < 0.01), "Eat protein foods more than twice a day" (P < 0.001), "Eat vegetables" (P < 0.01), "Eat fruit and fruit juice" (P < 0.01), "Eat vegetable oil added foods" (P < 0.01), "Eat seaweed" (P < 0.01), "Eat breakfast" (P < 0.01), "Modulation in animal fat and high in cholesterol intake" (P < 0.01). Particularly, higher proportion of subjects answered "very healthy" had higher frequencies (6-7 times/week) of these dietary behaviors. Overall results suggest that healthy lifestyle including adequate sleeping time, regular exercise, and good dietary behaviors might be potential factors affecting positive perception of health. In addition, positive perception of body weight and image were related with positive perception of health.

Keyword

self-rated health; body image; dietary behavior; exercise; sleeping time

MeSH Terms

Animals
Body Image
Body Weight
Cholesterol
Fruit
Humans
Life Style
Meals
Vegetables
Cholesterol

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