To educate people that regular physical activity can reduce risks for the development of chronic diseases among adults (USDHHS, 2000) including cardiovascular disease (Lichtenstein, Appel, Brands, et al., 2006), cancer (Jemal, Siegel, Ward, Murray, Xu, & Thun, 2004), and diabetes (CDC, 2005) because the problems related to sedentary lifestyles have been increased. This study showed what college students know about public health issues, especially, diseases related to sedentary lifestyles.
Method:
College students (394 freshman and sophomore) completed questionnaires with the knowledge about diseases related to sedentary lifestyle. From the questionnaire developed by Morrow et al. (2004), 10 items assessed students’ knowledge about disease related to sedentary lifestyle and diseases not affected by physical activity (PA). All data analyses performed using Statistical Package for Social Science version 16.0 (SPSS, 2007).
Analysis/Results:
Descriptive statistics were used for calculating the variable type and distribution. Chi-square analyses conducted to determine if specific dichotomous variables (e.g., yes/no) are related to items within the demographic profile (e.g., gender, ethnicity). The overall mean score for knowledge about disease related to sedentary lifestyle was 5.37 out of 10 (53.7%) with women scoring higher than men (55.3% and 51.8% respectively). No differences were found in knowledge about disease related to sedentary lifestyles by gender, however, significant differences between ethnicity and knowledge about disease related to sedentary lifestyle (F (6, 386) = 2.468, p < .05) were found. American Indian or Alaskan Native (M= 7.00, SD=3.559) was highest, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (M=6.04, SD=1.969), Caucasian (M= 5.58, SD=1.911), other (SD= 5.55, M= 2.114), Asian (M=5.21, SD=2.151), Hispanic or Latino (M=5.07, SD=1.782) and African American (M =4.59, SD= 2.443) were scored in this order.
Conclusions:
Previous research has shown a relationship between knowledge and health behavior; (Baranowki, Perry, & Parcel, 2002). In addition, association between knowledge of PA and health benefits of PA produced the source for being physically active person (Kann, Brener, & Allensworth, 2001). Therefore, it would be important for people to educate on these health benefits related to PA behavior for PA participation.