IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i9p5370-d804423.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Differences in Overweight or Obesity, Changes in Dietary Habits after Studying Abroad and Sleep Quality by Acculturative Degree among Asian Foreign Students: A Cross Sectional Pilot Study

Author

Listed:
  • Miae Doo

    (Department of Food and Nutrition, Kunsan National University, Daehak-ro 558, Gunsan 54150, Korea)

  • Chunyang Wang

    (Department of Food and Nutrition, Kunsan National University, Daehak-ro 558, Gunsan 54150, Korea)

Abstract

The number of foreign students is increasing worldwide, and they suffer from acculturation to different environments or cultures. This pilot study examined the difference in overweight or obesity, changes in dietary habits after studying abroad and sleep quality according to acculturative degree among 225 Asian foreign students in South Korea. Most subjects (61.8%) experienced a low acculturative degree. The change in dietary habits after studying abroad showed a significant difference according to the acculturative degree ( p < 0.001); however, there were no differences observed in sleep quality ( p = 0.090) and prevalence of overweight or obesity according to acculturative degree ( p = 0.101). Interestingly, a difference in the risk for being overweight or obese by sleep quality after being stratified into groups according to acculturative degree was observed. Among the groups with a low acculturative degree, subjects reporting poor sleep quality had a 2.875-fold (95% CI = 1.167–7.080) higher risk of being overweight or obese than those reporting good sleep quality. However, the risk of being overweight or obese was not different among the high acculturative group regardless of their sleep quality. The results showed that the degree of acculturation could influence the risk of being overweight or obese according to sleep quality among Asian foreign students.

Suggested Citation

  • Miae Doo & Chunyang Wang, 2022. "Differences in Overweight or Obesity, Changes in Dietary Habits after Studying Abroad and Sleep Quality by Acculturative Degree among Asian Foreign Students: A Cross Sectional Pilot Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-9, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5370-:d:804423
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5370/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/9/5370/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Madhu Sudhan Atteraya, 2021. "Acculturation Stressors and Academic Adjustment among Nepalese Students in South Korean Higher Education Institutions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-9, June.
    2. Lu, Ying & Samaratunge, Ramanie & Härtel, Charmine E J, 2016. "Predictors of acculturation attitudes among professional Chinese immigrants in the Australian workplace," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(1), pages 49-67, January.
    3. Zi Yan & Kathleen FitzPatrick, 2016. "Acculturation and health behaviors among international students: A qualitative approach," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(1), pages 58-63, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Weiyu Mao & Jia Li & Ling Xu & Iris Chi, 2020. "Acculturation and health behaviors among older Chinese immigrants in the United States: A qualitative descriptive study," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(3), pages 714-722, September.
    2. Michał Machul & Monika Bieniak & Justyna Chałdaś-Majdańska & Jadwiga Bąk & Agnieszka Chrzan-Rodak & Paulina Mazurek & Piotr Pawłowski & Daria Makuch-Kuśmierz & Anna Obuchowska & Adrianna Bartoszek & K, 2020. "Lifestyle Practices, Satisfaction with Life and the Level of Perceived Stress of Polish and Foreign Medical Students Studying in Poland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-10, June.
    3. Junqi Zhu & Guangxia Li & Ming Wan & Shanshan Li & Liyan Sun & Jie Li & Xue Wang, 2022. "Survey Study of the Cultural Integration of International Students in East China under Ecosystem Theory," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-21, November.
    4. Xiyao Liu & Haoyue Chen & Qianling Zhou & Huifeng Zhang & Phensiri Asawasirisap & John Kearney, 2020. "Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) towards Diet and Health among International Students in Dublin: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-13, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:9:p:5370-:d:804423. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.