The relationship between risk of eating disorders, stress and physical activity among Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) undergraduate students

Goh, Yining (2023) The relationship between risk of eating disorders, stress and physical activity among Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) undergraduate students. Final Year Project, UTAR.

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Abstract

Eating disorders are a type of serious mental health disorders characterized by severe disturbances to an individual’s eating behaviours. Currently many Asian countries report that young adults, particularly university students are at a higher risk for developing eating disorders. Thus, this issue has become a serious global public health concern. Stress and physical activity are known to be the major factors that affect the student’s eating behaviour. This study was a cross sectional study conducted to investigate the relationship between eating disorders, stress, and physical activity among undergraduate students in Malaysia. Convenience sampling was used to obtain a sample size of 204 respondents from October 2022 to December 2022. Among all the respondents, 18.1% of students were found to be at risk of developing eating disorders. In terms of stress levels, 76.5% had moderate stress. A majority of students (47.5%) were minimally physically active. The findings indicated no significant association between all sociodemographic characteristics and risk of eating disorders. However, significant association were found between stress level and risk of eating disorders (p=0.033), and between physical activity levels and risk of eating disorders (p=0.047). The correlation test revealed a significant, very weak correlation between stress and risk of eating disorders (r=0.156, p=0.025), but no significant correlation between physical activity and risk of eating disorders, as well as stress and physical activity. In conclusion, it is vital to encourage undergraduate students to manage their stress effectively and be physically active. Additionally, increasing awareness among undergraduate students regarding eating disorders before is crucial to prevent this issue from becoming more serious

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