An investigation into the lifestyle, health habits and risk factors of young adults.
This project examined the lifestyle, health habits and risk factors of young adults at Qatar University. It explored the clustering and differences in dietary habits, body mass index (BMI) and physical activity (PA) amongst male and female students, both Qatari and non-Qatari. Seven hundred thirty two students aged 18-25 years completed a self-reported questionnaire and an objective measure of BMI. Males and females had a high prevalence of being overweight and obesity and low levels of PA, according to well-established international standards. Three clusters were identified based on the students' lifestyle and dietary habits. Cluster 1 (high risk factors) included those who engaged the least in healthy dietary practices and consumed the most unhealthy foods, participated in less PA and had the highest BMI. Cluster 2 (moderate risk factors) included those with considerably more habits falling into the moderate category, engagement in the most PA, the least TV and computer viewing time and had the lowest BMI. Cluster 3 (low risk factors) included those who engaged the most with the four healthy dietary practices, the least with the four unhealthy dietary practices and participated in moderate PA per week. This project provides valuable data that could be used by policy makers to address issues concerning student's health.
College of Education, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar. alnakeeb@qu.edu.qa.
Yahya
Y
Al-Nakeeb
Biomechanics Research Unit, Department of Physical Education & Sport Sciences, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland. mark.lyons@ul.ie.
Mark
M
Lyons
Department of Psychology and Counselling, Newman University, Birmingham, B32 3NT, UK. l.dodd@newman.ac.uk.
Lorna J
LJ
Dodd
Department of Physical Education, King Faisal University, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia. NUAI200@newman.ac.uk.
Anwar
A
Al-Nuaim
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015444:Exercise; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011780:Qatar / Q000453:epidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult