Gender Differences in Healthy Lifestyle Behaviours: A Case of Students at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47672/ejhs.1043Keywords:
Males, Females, Differences, Lifestyle BehavioursAbstract
Purpose: Healthy lifestyle behaviours lead to good health and reduce the mortality rate. The objective of this study was to examine gender differences in healthy lifestyle behaviours among students at the Institute of Rural Development Planning in Dodoma, Tanzania.
Methodology: The study area was Mbwanga ward at the respective Institute. The research design was cross-sectional in which data were collected from the population at a single point in time. The sample size was 160 respondents involving 67(41.9%) males and 93(58.1%) females out of 281 registered students in the Second Year Bachelor Degree Programme of Human Resource Planning and Management 2020/2021 academic year. The data collection method was interview while a structured self-reported questionnaire derived from the Lifestyle Screening Tool developed by Kim and Kang was a data collection tool. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to conduct data analysis by Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
Findings: Results showed that there were gender differences in healthy lifestyle behaviours. Females were at least leading in perceiving desirable behaviours which included water drinking, air-breathing, dietary habits, temperance and trust. Males only did better on two healthy lifestyle behaviours which included sleep and physical exercise compared with females. Further results on the Independent Samples t-Test (t [158] = -1.858; p showed that even though both gender had different perceptions of their lifestyle behaviours, such difference was not statistically significant.
Recommendations: The study recommended that students’ Programme Coordinators should remind students to drink sufficient water for keeping good health on occasions of their scheduled meeting; while students should plant more trees and flowers at the Campus and in residential areas to optimize clean air-breathing.
Downloads
References
Burgard, S. A., Ailshire, J. A., & Hughes, N. M. (2010). Gender and Sleep Duration among American Adults. Population Studies Center Research Report 09-693.
Byrnes, J., Miller, D., & Schafer, W. (1999). Gender Differences in Risk Taking: A Meta-Analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 367–383. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.125.3.367
Carmen, A., Waldha usl, S., Nicky, L., & Rafael, B.-C. (2016). Determinants of health-related lifestyles among university students. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/307872128_Determinants_of_health-related_lifestyles_among_university_students
Çetinkaya, S., Sert, H., Çetinkaya, S., & Sert, H. (2021). Healthy lifestyle behaviors of university students and related factors. Acta Paulista de Enfermagem, 34. https://doi.org/10.37689/acta-ape/2021ao02942
Cvetković Vega, A., Maguiña, J. L., Soto, A., Lama-Valdivia, J., & Correa López, L. E. (2021). Cross-sectional studies. Revista de La Facultad de Medicina Humana, 21(1), 164–170. https://doi.org/10.25176/RFMH.v21i1.3069
Dawson, K. A., Schneider, M. A., Fletcher, P. C., & Bryden, P. J. (2007). Examining gender differences in the health behaviors of Canadian university students. Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, 127(1), 38–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466424007073205
Farleigh, T. (2015). Gender Differences in Stress, Alcohol Consumption, and Cigarette Use among College Students at San José State University [Master of Arts, San Jose State University]. https://doi.org/10.31979/etd.he8u-j5sg
Fatima, Y., Doi, S. A. R., Najman, J. M., & Mamun, A. A. (2016). Exploring Gender Difference in Sleep Quality of Young Adults: Findings from a Large Population Study. Clinical Medicine & Research, 14(3–4), 138–144. https://doi.org/10.3121/cmr.2016.1338
Gore, M. N., Menon, K. C., Safai, A. A., Shukla, S., & Yeravdekar, R. (2021). Determinants of health-promoting lifestyles amongst Indian University students. International Journal of Health Promotion and Education, 59(3), 135–144. https://doi.org/10.1080/14635240.2020.1726202
Hanapi, N. N., Daud, M. N., & Mansor, M. (2019). Gender Differences in Risk-Taking Attitudes Among Adolescents. Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (MJSSH,Volume 4, Issue 4,.
Hanawi, S. A., Saat, N. Z. M., Zulkafly, M., Hazlenah, H., Taibukahn, N. H., Yoganathan, D., Abdul Rahim, N. N., Mohd Bashid, N. A. A., Abdul Aziz, F. A., & Low, F. J. (2020). Impact of a Healthy Lifestyle on the Psychological Well-being of University Students. International Journal of Pharmaceutical Research & Allied Sciences, 9(2):1-7.
Haselhuhn, M., Kennedy, J., Kray, L., Van Zant, A., & Schweitzer, M. (2015). Gender differences in trust dynamics: Women trust more than men following a trust violation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 56, 104–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2014.09.007
Hemed, M. (2015). Cross-sectional studies. Training Course in Sexual and Reproductive Health Research, Geneva, 12.
Khalil, K. (2011). The Health Status and Lifestyle Behaviours of Higher Education Students in Libya. University of Gloucestershire.
Kim, C. H., & Kang, K.-A. (2019). The validity and reliability of the Healthy Lifestyle Screening Tool. Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Science, 8(2), 99–111. https://doi.org/10.14474/ptrs.2019.8.2.99
Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining Sample Size for Research Activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447003000308
Kubaisy, W. A., Mohamad, M., Ismail, Z., & Abdullah, N. N. (2015). Gender Differences: Motivations for performing physical exercise among adults in Shah Alam. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 202, 522–530. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.08.181
Loef, M., & Walach, H. (2012). The combined effects of healthy lifestyle behaviors on all-cause mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Preventive Medicine 55, 163–170.
Lores, A., & Murcia, J. (2008). University student’s attitude to physical exercise and sport: Gender differences. Revista de Psicologia Del Deporte, 17, 7–23.
Mallampalli, M. P., & Carter, C. L. (2014). Exploring Sex and Gender Differences in Sleep Health: A Society for Women’s Health Research Report. Journal of Women’s Health, 23(7), 553–562. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.2014.4816
Mandil, A., Bin Saeed, A., Ahmad, S., Al-Dabbagh, R., Alsaadi, M., & Khan, M. (2010). Smoking among university students: A gender analysis. Journal of Infection and Public Health, 3(4), 179–187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jiph.2010.10.003
Niyaz, Ö. C. (2020). Eating habits and gender differences among Turkish agricultural engineering students: A cross-sectional study. Progress in Nutrition, 22(2), 568–576. https://doi.org/10.23751/pn.v22i2.8917
Persson, E. (2017). Nutritional habits and physical activity among university students in Thailand. Uppsala University.
Roper, T. (2011). An investigation into gender differences in alcohol consumption among third level college students in Ireland. https://esource.dbs.ie/handle/10788/315
Schmidt, M. (2012). Predictors of Self-Rated Health and Lifestyle Behaviours in Swedish University Students. Global Journal of Health Science, 4(4), p1. https://doi.org/10.5539/gjhs.v4n4p1
Seo, Y.-J., & Ha, Y. (2019). Gender Differences in Predictors of Physical Activity among Korean College Students Based on the Health Promotion Model. Asian/Pacific Island Nursing Journal, 4(1), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.31372/20190401.1000
Shayo, F. K. (2019). Co-occurrence of risk factors for non-communicable diseases among in-school adolescents in Tanzania: An example of a low-income setting of sub-Saharan Africa for adolescence health policy actions. BMC Public Health, 19(1), 972. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7320-1
Tsai, L.-L., & Li, S.-P. (2004). Sleep patterns in college students: Gender and grade differences. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 56, 231–237.
Wagner, G. A., Stempliuk, V. de A., Zilberman, M. L., Barroso, L. P., & Andrade, A. G. de. (2007). Alcohol and drug use among university students: Gender differences. Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, 29, 123–129. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1516-44462006005000033
Wang, X., & Cheng, Z. (2020). Cross-Sectional Studies. Chest, 158(1), S65–S71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.03.012
Widyasari, D. C., & Turnip, S. S. (2019). (Does healthy lifestyle contribute to physical and mental health among University students? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338246881_Does_healthy_lifestyle_contribute_to_physical_and_mental_health_among_University_students
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.
