Relationships Effecting College Students’ Perception of Family Influence Impacting their Health and Lifestyle

Abstract

Family influence affects the entire family, especially children, adolescents and even young adults once they leave home. The purpose of this study was to determine college students’ perception of family influence impacting their health and lifestyle. This was a cross-sectional, non-experimental study with a descriptive design that used social learning theory to inform and guide the process. The study included 120 college students in a faith-based institution. Each student completed a Likert-type survey (4-point agreement scale) that pertained to their perception of health, and the degree of influence peers and family have on their health. The data analysis showed that respondents are in most agreement (M = 3.34, SD = 0.615) that “family has influenced my idea of health”, 94.2% indicating their agreement. Three reliable factors and scales Family Influence (FI) (α = 0.764), Positive Family Impacts (PFI) (α = 0.679) and Negative Impacts (NI) α = 0.613) were established. Most students indicated agreement with perceiving FI (54.2%) and PFI (58%) with low frequencies of disagreement (19.2% and 14.1% respectively). Most disagreed with perceiving NI (61.7%), but 11.7% agreed they experienced negative health impacts. A weak to moderate positive association between FI and PFI (r = 0.334), a moderate but negative correlation between FI and NI (r = -0.429), and a very weak negative correlation between PFI and NI (-0.242) emerged on analysis. Some statistically significant differences in the mean scales for groups defined by four demographic variables age, gender, family type and religion, but not ethnicity, were confirmed. The general importance of family health education as a integrative public health potential and contributor to student wellbeing, is asserted. The importance of the contribution of this study to Christian education is the known dependence of effective learning experiences (including spirituality) on student wellbeing. TEACHR TEACH Journal 12-1.indd 45 30/7/18 7:54 pm 46 | TEACH | v12 n1 v12 n1 | TEACH | 47 Research & Scholarship ” “There is an association between overprotective parents and ... behaviours in the adult child. ... unhealthy eating, lack of exercise, unprotected sexual practices, and smoking. Healthy lifestyles are developed and modelled in the family. Level of health habit adoption is impacted in childhood, adolescence and young adulthood and potentially moderated by factors including family structure, parenting style and parental knowledge. urrent changes in families’ may be challenging this transmission of healthy practices, shifting this role into other domains such as the extended family; peers and wider social and community groups including schools, colleges, and university; sporting clubs and churches. Since a core mission of Christian education is effective learning, and this is significantly influenced by the students’ level of healthy wellbeing, achieving high levels of student wellbeing becomes an associated prior purpose. Most college students do not live at home during the school year, which means they are responsible for making their own decisions regarding many things, including health behaviours. “Scholars have posited that family communication is a proximal source of influence on health attitudes and behaviors” (Baiocchi-Wagner & Talley, 2013, p. 194). However, the degree to which communication among family members influences an individual’s health is not well understood (Baiocchi-Wagner & Talley, 2013). The purpose of this study was to determine college students’ perception of family influence impacting their health and lifestyle. Background The National Center for Health Statistics published a report in 2009 which indicated that obesity rates had tripled among young adults between 1971-1974 and 2005-2006 (Baiocchi-Wagner & Talley, 2013). Also, amanathan and rocker (200 ) affirmed, “physical activity rates for youth are insufficient for health benefits, whereas inactivity-related diseases like obesity are on the rise” (p. 492). As the United States faces this increasing obesity rate, it is important to understand which health influences are leading to the weight problem. Young adulthood is the time that people start making independent life choices (Paredes, Ferreira, & Pereira, 2014), so to understand the obesity problem, it is essential to determine what variables young adults take into consideration when making healthy choices. Paredes et al. (2014) asserted that obesity in young adults is not the only health issue prevalent in today’s society college students are provided more opportunities to engage in risky behaviours as they live away from home. There is an association between overprotective parents and unhealthy behaviours in the adult child. The unhealthy behaviours in this context are unhealthy eating, lack of exercise, unprotected sexual practices, and smoking. Based on the research reviewed, the amount of influence that the family holds in affecting college students’ perceptions should be examined. t is possible that providing family education could be an effective way to improve health promotion for young adults (Paredes et al., 2014). Problem, Purpose, and Research Question Baiocchi-Wagner and Talley (2013) found that “investigating young adult health is exceedingly important, as the time between the ages of 18 and 29 sets the foundation for future health behaviors and health status’” (p. 1 3). ith more health problems related to risky behaviour and obesity on the rise among adults, it is essential to examine influential factors, such as family influence, in young adults’ lives. The majority of students attending college are young adults, and family influences on their health have rarely been studied. The purpose of this study was to determine college students’ perception of family influence impacting their health and lifestyle. The research question was: Do college students perceive a family influence impacting their health and lifestyle? Review of the Literature All research articles were obtained from the institutional library and the Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) database. Eight of the peer-reviewed sources can be applied to studying family’s influence on college students’ health perceptions. The articles were written between 2009 and 2015. Keywords, such as, family’s influence on health, health perception, and student’s health were used to find the articles. Parental Role in Modelling Health Beliefs and Habits Ramanathan and Crocker (2009) implemented qualitative methods to answer, “what role do personal, familial, and cultural attitudes and social norms towards activities have on actual physical activity behavior of the Indian Diaspora” (p. 493). This study interviewed six female teens between the ages 15-19 years old whose families were socioeconomically middleto upperclass. From these interviews, all participants conveyed their parents were physically active in childhood and adulthood, serving as role models for their own level of physical activity. Furthermore, Ramanathan and Crocker discovered that “participants also felt that their parents served as sources of social support through encouragement (e.g., verbal affirmations), facilitation (e.g., buying access to sports equipment), and involvement (e.g., engaging in activity with them)” (p. 497). In another study, Burke, Woszidlo, and Segrin (2013) asserted that “the association between social skills and psychosocial problems, such as loneliness TEACH Journal 12-1.indd 46 30/7/18 7:54 pm Research & Scholarship ” “Most of the behaviors that people display are learned, either deliberately or inadvertently, through the influence of example and anxiety, is important given the deleterious emotional, physical, and social consequences associated with these problems” (p. 78). Results suggested that “adult children’s social skills can be influenced by their fathers’ interactional skills,” but “maternal influence upon adult children’s social skills is non-significant in this sample” (Burke et al., 2013, p. 87). To assess common health beliefs among college students, Downey and Chang (2013) completed four interrelated studies using a mixed-method design. Upon assessing the college students’ answers, Downey and Chang revealed that psychosocial factors were associated with the general perception of health, while less importance was placed on the “absence of illness” (p. 828). Some of these variables influence personal health behaviours and choices. Paredes et al. (2014) observed that “the quality of university students’ relationship with their parents mediated the association between mental health, physical symptoms and health behaviour” (p. 43). Poutianinen, Levalahti, Hakulinen-Viiltanen, and Laatikainen (2015) hypothesised that adolescents who lived in families with mothers or fathers who smoked were at a higher risk to develop smoking behaviours than adolescents whose parents did not smoke. They observed 6,506 children, from the age of 0.5-15 years old, in Finland. The results confirmed that parental smoking was associated with smoking in both boys and girls (Poutianinen et al., 2015). In summary, parents have served as social support through encouragement, facilitation, and becoming involved in activities with their children. Verbal interaction, financial help, and involvement made a difference in family relationships. These studies imply that there is a parental influence, potentially through modelled behaviour in living healthily, which establishes a habit of healthy lifestyle choices that seem to subsequently affect their children’s health choices. Impact of Parental Involvement in Health Choices Baiocchi-Wagner and Talley (2013) examined the association between family communication patterns and young adults’ patterns of diet and physical activity. This quantitative study included 433 dyads; each dyad consisted of a young adult and an influential family member of the you