ADUBOR Lawrenta Ph.D

Department of Vocational and Technical Education, Faculty of Education, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State, Nigeria.

ABSTRACT

The study examined the life style patterns and nutritional status of students of universities in Edo and Delta States, Nigeria. Specifically, it studied gender differences in lifestyle pattern and nutritional status of undergraduate students and the influence of lifestyle pattern on nutritional status. The study adopted the ex-post facto research design. The population of the study consisted of 93,331 undergraduate students in nine (9) public universities in Edo and Delta States, Nigeria. The multistage sampling technique was used in the study. The balloting sampling technique was used to select 150 undergraduate students from 200 – 400 levels in each Department from two Faculties in each University. The instruments that were used for data collection is an adapted structured questionnaire titled Dietary and Lifestyle Patterns on Nutritional Status of Undergraduates questionnaire (DLPNSUQ). The reliability of the instrument was determined using the internal consistency method, by employing Cronbach Alpha formula. The entire hypotheses were tested using t-test, Univariate Analysis of variance (ANOVA) at .05 level of significance. The result showed that dietary and lifestyle patterns do not change with respect to gender. However, it was uncovered that dietary and lifestyle patterns had significant with individual but no interaction influence on undergraduate students’ nutritional status in Edo and Delta States, Nigeria. It was recommended that the Ministry of Health should introduce a comprehensive public health intervention measure including a comprehensive nutritional and health education programme for undergraduate students as it is needed to promote knowledge of healthy lifestyle.

Keywords: Lifestyle patterns, Nutritional Status, Undergraduate, Students

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