The article was written by Salandy and Nies (2013) focuses on the research study conducted to reveal the connection between college students’ nutrition and the way they interact with others, manage stress, and drink alcoholic beverages. The professionals were interested in the health behaviors in this population because they realized that students face numerous changes as they enter college.
Except for the stress from studying and being in the new environment, students’ health is also influenced by the fact that they start making personal food decisions. As a result, many of them fail to follow a healthy diet and obtain new health issues, such as obesity. I consider this topic to be relevant and important because nutrition plays a significant role in people’s lives. It can make them healthier or increase the risk of getting sick. College students are often yet not able to make advantageous decisions regarding their diet, which has negative consequences over time.
With the help of this study, professionals want to reveal nutrition behaviors in college freshmen, as they consider them to have a great influence on health. First of all, attention is paid to the possibility to gain weight because of wrong food choices and portions, as obesity is a problem that is typical for the country. Then, the authors presuppose that stress can affect the overall health condition as well as nutrition choices and try to determine exact effects. They discuss interpersonal relationships and alcohol consumption in the same framework to obtain trustworthy information that can be then used to provide recommendations and enhance the situation, which is currently observed.
The article is based on exploratory research. The sample includes freshmen students of both genders ages 18 to 25 who study at a southern public university. All in all, 167 participants were assessed several times during the year (initially, after 3 months, and 6 months). “The Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP) II questionnaire and the Daily Drinking Questionnaire (DDQ)” were used to obtain the information about the health behaviors and drinking consumption (Salandy & Nies, 2013, p. 69). The independent variable was nutrition. Dependent ones included stress management, relations, and drinking. The measurement was maintained with the help of a 4-point Likert scale.
The results of the study proved the authors’ assumption that nutrition is not tightly connected with stress management but is associated with it. It was also identified that nutrition and interpersonal interactions do not depend on each other. In addition to that, no significant association with drinking was observed. In this way, the study did not confirm the researchers’ assumption. Still, it proved that freshmen are at higher risk for obesity due to the beginning of college life.
This study revealed that college students do not pay enough attention to their nutrition. They tend to prefer junk food that is easy to get and leads to obesity even though their education facility is trying to implement health promotion programs. The findings show that even though the main claim is not confirmed, freshmen still tend to have health issues because of their nutrition. This article can be used to assist colleges in the promotion of healthy diets and lifestyles. The authors still need to find out how the situation can be improved. I would also like to get to know if the findings can be applied to senior students.
Reference
Salandy, S., & Nies, M. (2013). The effect of nutrition on the stress management, interpersonal relationships, and alcohol consumption of college freshmen. College Student Affairs Journal, 31(1), 69-76.