Stress and anxiety levels are raised amongst university and college students. (Haiidar, et al., 2016). It is known that increased stress levels have a negative impact on both the mind and the body. There are a few psychological problems that occur with stress including anxiety and depression (Haiidar, et al., 2016). In addition, according to Lywinski stress has been linked with unhealthy food intake, especially intake of poor nutrient foods (Lywinski 2018). The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development 2014 Obesity report (OECD, 2014) suggests that worldwide 18% of the adult population are obese, not only does weight gain affect our cognitive and physical well-being, it is one of the top 10 major global health problems (Daniela S et al., 2014).
Upon further research, there is known to be widespread of obesity which is approximately two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese (Hedley, 2004). Obesity is a simple preventable health problem, yet we still see many people, especially the younger generations with higher rates of people who are overweight and obese. Poor time management leads to poor nutritional choices is the cause of weight gain in college students. Having to manage school, work and personal life cause a high level of stress among college students.
Unfortunately, some of these factors that college students are dealing with a high level of stress related to academics, personal situations, financial burdens. These work-related issues are proven to show negative results upon mental and physical health. Studies show that 20-25% of students attending college are experiencing academic-related stress, where on the other hand students are experiencing stress for other factors, and 50% of students are experiencing stress in other forms of mental illness (Haiidar, et al., 2016). The population at Cal State LA is experiencing stress due to busy schedules which leads to a high number of convent food rather than taking the time and getting or cooking a healthy meal which leads to overweight. Because of a busy schedule, students don’t have the time to go to the gym and exercise due to personal life and academic life; it can affect the ability to do things such as going to the gym and exercise.
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Uncontrolled levels of stress are found to have negative impacts on the body. Cortisol a naturally produced hormone is a key to a stress response for the presence of a physical or psychological threat. Cortisol levels surge to provide the energy and substrate necessary to cope with stress (Blackburn G. 2003). When experiencing an environment, that deals with high levels of stress increase levels of cortisol in the body. These increased levels of cortisol can influence the intake of sugary foods and drinks as a result leading to weight gain. The primary focus of this study looks at students that also eat less nutritious foods. The objective of this study is to find if whether or not stress is correlated with weight gain in undergraduate university students.
Participants for this study consisted of undergraduate students who were currently enrolled in college/university between the ages of 18 and 99. Participants were recruited using social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram, e-mail, forum posts and handed out paper. Participants were asked to fill out an anonymous survey which consisted of 20 questions that asked about stress, anxiety, dietary habits, and school performance. This was a cross-sectional research study based on a convenience sample of 102 females and 23 male college students. There were a total of 126 participants, but eight were excluded due to unanswered questions. Participants were given a survey link to Google Form. All of the participants were volunteers. All responses were anonymous and confidential..
Exposure: Questions asking for their lifestyle with school and its behavior associating with stress and methods how to relieve stress were also included. The responses were ranged from 1 not being stressed to 5 being most stressed. In addition, coping skills that are related to participants’ handling of stress were also assessed, ranging from 1 meaning not able at all to 5 being able to cope.
Outcome: Questions regarding stress behaviors and the causes of weight gain were also included to determine whether these components are at cause when eating when stress and the amount of high-fat content food as well as, how physically healthy you are and the amount of exercise. The last part of the questionnaire included questions regarding how much BMI (Body Mass Index), participants were asked to self-report height and weight.
The data I analyze I converted into numerical data using Microsoft Excel and then after SPSS (The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) to see if there was any association between the variables with stress and weight gain within college students. I decided to compare means to distinguish out whether there was a positive association between stress and weight gain. The variables I mainly focus on were stress levels, whether they had the urge to eat when they feel stressed, and how often they worked out a week, the hours spent studying and BMI.
The study gathered a size of 118 colleges students. The mean age of the study population was 23.02 years with a standard deviation of 8.9. From the study, they were 94 (79.7%) females, 23 (19.5%) male and 1 (.8) prefer not to say. Participants were asked about their current class level; Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior, and Super Senior. 100% of all participants were enrolled in college. They were also asked how many units enrolled in (3 – 21) which indicated if they are full time or part times. The questionnaire asked how many hours were spent studying per week and how it correlates to stress.
Participants were asked about their current stress level on a daily basis during the academic year. They were also asked how they handle stress when experiencing it (coping skills). The majority of the participants reported studying issues as the usual cause of stress in their life, as well as family and financial issues. Including these participants also reported sleeping and eating were personal methods to relieve stress. There was a huge number of participants who eat high content food (58.8%). Participant were asked about how physically healthy they feel that they are as well as how important exercise is. And the average number of minutes they exercise out of the week. A copy of Table 1 can be found on page 12 – 13.
My results using cross-tabulations with the chi-square analysis to test whether there was an association between stress and BMI. In order to do that I measured the association between how stressed students feel on a daily basis during the academic year, 1 = not stress at all had a mean BMI of 24.9 and no sd (standard deviation) and 5 being most stress had a mean BMI of 29.7 with a sd of (7.6). The P-value of .029 indicates that stress leads to weight gain and it has a significant impact on college students. Participants were asked whether they eat when stressed and the mean BMI for those who said yes was 28.2 (6.3). For more information on the association between stress and BMI see Table 2 on page 14.
The primary focus of this study was to determine whether or not stress showed a significant association with weight gain, as well as to determine BMI (body mass index) among college students. Little is known about the key patterns of dietary intake, eating behaviors, and physical activity in relation to stress in university students because this has not been previously thoroughly reviewed (Lyzwinski 2018). Some of the findings revealed that most college students have high BMI who continuing stressing eating. The findings showed that college students that had the most stress compared to and have a larger BMI.
Some of the participants that were able to identify how they handle stress when experiencing (coping skills) it ranged from 1 (not being able to) -5 (being able) to cope with stress had a strong (38.1%) percentage in the middle. While observing my research, I found that in a systematic review study by Dr. Haider they found that there was a positive correlation between BMI and stress but only in males (Haider, 2016). But these results from Dr. Haider were only significant in male students and it related to their BMI (body mass index), rather than their actual weight. In my study, there was a high number of females (94%) than males (23%).
One of the strong points in my study was that my survey was anonymous so people were willing to answer the questions with confidence and their information was held confidential. Also, I used various Facebook groups especially CSULA groups, so I knew that a lot of college students would see the survey as well as other social media platforms that had an attach forum directly to the study.
A few of the weak points of my research was that a majority of the respondents were females so this may have affected the data. When reviewing my questions, I also noted that people were putting in answers that weren’t on the multiple choice options, so it changed how I had to gather my data. Some would answer a few questions and leave the rest blank.
If I were to conduct this study again, I would hold the same study nonetheless choose the same amount of participants in both male and female. Including sex, major, ethnicity, and college/university. I would also want the survey to be done in person to get all questions answered and still making the participants understand that it is confidential. The interview type would be face to face with the participant. I would also choose to do a follow up on each respondent so I could evaluate weight fluctuations, different stressor, and etc. This would allow our results to be more accurate on whether or not stress does have a high correlation with weight gain in college students.
In conclusion, stress has a positive association with weight gain especially targeting college students. The findings show patterns of food intake and exercise among university students when experiencing stress. Given the relationships between stress and relating it to weight and behaviors among college students. College students who are already in a critical stage in their academic life with adapting to new changes. The changing aspects that include an increasing number of classes, hours spent studying and facing finical issues lead to having a negative impact on students.
