Determination of the Relationship between Physical Activity Levels and Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors of University Students

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to determine the relationship of physical activity levels and healthy lifestyle behaviors of students in Bartın University. 2218 male and female students from (nschool of physical education and sport:195, nfaculty of literature:142, nfaculty of education: 201, nfaculty of economics and administrative sciences: 431, nfaculty of engineering: 515, nfaculty of forestry: 318, nfaculty of sciences: 25, nvocational school: 372, nvocational school of health: 19). All the students attended to this research voluntarily. In the study, the short form of International Physical Activity Questionnaire was adopted to the students in order to determine their physical activity levels. Physical Activity (PA) levels were categorised as inactive (low), minimum active and physically active group by using MET method. Besides Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile Questionnaire was used with self-actualization (SA), health responsibility (HR), exercise (E), nutrition (N), interpersonal support (IS) and stress management(SM) subscales in order to determine healthy life styles of the students. Results of Pearson Product Moment Correlation analyses indicated significant positive correlations between total physical activity level and health responsibility (r=.60; p<0.05), exercise (r=.69; p<0.05), interpersonal support (r=.62; p<0.01), stress management (r=.72; p<0.05), nutrition (r=.60; p<0.05), and healthy lifestyle behaviors (r=.63; p<0.05). It has vital importance to determine the physical activity levels of university students as there is supposed to be a close relation between activity and physical, mental, social, and psychological health, which also affects academic success. Many researches so far have pointed out the importance of physical activity opportunities in campus life for university students as the students demonstrate to neglect physical activities during transition from high school to university period. Therefore this study also explored the relationship between physical activity levels and healthy lifestyle behaviors of university students in order to create awareness about this issue. As a conclusion, the findings of the present study indicated that physical activity level of university students directly affected their healthy lifestyle behaviors.