IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v7y2010i2p509-527d7122.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is the Health and Wellbeing of University Students Associated with their Academic Performance? Cross Sectional Findings from the United Kingdom

Author

Listed:
  • Walid El Ansari

    (Faculty of Sport, Health and Social Care, University of Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire, UK)

  • Christiane Stock

    (Unit for Health Promotion Research, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Vej 9-10, 6700 Esbjerg, Denmark)

Abstract

This study explored the associations between health awareness, health behaviour, subjective health status, and satisfaction of students with their educational experience as independent variables and three outcomes of educational achievement as dependent variables. We undertook two simultaneous cross-sectional surveys among students from one University in the UK during 2008−2009. The first survey was a general health survey; the second survey measured students’ satisfaction with different aspects of their learning and teaching experience. Students’ registration numbers linked the responses of both questionnaires together, and subsequently linked the questionnaires to the university database to import the grades that students actually achieved in their studies. Generally, students (N = 380) exhibited average medium to high satisfaction with their educational experiences. Students’ satisfaction with their educational experiences was not associated with any of the three indicators of educational achievement (actual module mark; perceived own performance; importance of achieving good grades). The associations of educational satisfaction, health, health behaviours, heath complaints and financial parameters with the three outcomes of educational achievement did not differ between male and female students. Each of the health, health behaviours, health complaints and financial parameters were selectively associated with only some but not all three indicators of student educational achievement. We conclude that the findings support a conceptual framework suggesting reciprocal relationships between health, health behaviour and educational achievement. Comprehensive health promotion programmes may have the potential to influence relevant predictors of educational achievement in university students.

Suggested Citation

  • Walid El Ansari & Christiane Stock, 2010. "Is the Health and Wellbeing of University Students Associated with their Academic Performance? Cross Sectional Findings from the United Kingdom," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-19, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:7:y:2010:i:2:p:509-527:d:7122
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/2/509/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/2/509/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ding, Weili & Lehrer, Steven F. & Rosenquist, J.Niels & Audrain-McGovern, Janet, 2009. "The impact of poor health on academic performance: New evidence using genetic markers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 578-597, May.
    2. Wardle, Jane & Steptoe, Andrew, 1991. "The European health and behaviour survey: Rationale, methods and initial results from the United Kingdom," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 33(8), pages 925-936, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Walid El Ansari & Khalid Khalil & Christiane Stock, 2014. "Symptoms and Health Complaints and Their Association with Perceived Stressors among Students at Nine Libyan Universities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-20, November.
    2. Walid El Ansari & Abdul Salam & Sakari Suominen, 2020. "Is Alcohol Consumption Associated with Poor Perceived Academic Performance? Survey of Undergraduates in Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-19, February.
    3. Amani Alhazmi & Farah Aziz & Manal Mohammed Hawash, 2021. "Association of BMI, Physical Activity with Academic Performance among Female Students of Health Colleges of King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-10, October.
    4. Naffisah Mohd Hassan & Erne Suzila Kassim & Noor'ain Binti Mohamad Yunus & Syukrina Alini Mat Ali & Yahya Mahyuddin Utoh Said, 2023. "Navigating the COVID-19 Storm: Assessing Well-being in University Students from Lower-Income Backgrounds," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 15(3), pages 206-215.
    5. Walid El Ansari & Christiane Stock & Ceri Phillips & Andi Mabhala & Mary Stoate & Hamed Adetunji & Pat Deeny & Jill John & Shan Davies & Sian Parke & Xiaoling Hu & Sherrill Snelgrove, 2011. "Does the Association between Depressive Symptomatology and Physical Activity Depend on Body Image Perception? A Survey of Students from Seven Universities in the UK," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-19, January.
    6. Walid El Ansari & Abdul Salam, 2020. "Is Achieving the Guidelines of Four Forms of Physical Activity Associated with Less Self-Reported Health Complaints? Cross-Sectional Study of Undergraduates at the University of Turku, Finland," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-19, August.
    7. Suphawita Pliannuom & Kanokporn Pinyopornpanish & Chaisiri Angkurawaranon & Kanokwan Pinyopornpanish & Anawat Wisetborisut & Surinporn Likhitsathian & Wichuda Jiraporncharoen, 2021. "Utilization of Health Care Services and Common Disease Diagnoses among University Students: An Analysis of 35,249 Students from Thailand," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-11, July.

    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. Dalsgaard, Søren & Nielsen, Helena Skyt & Simonsen, Marianne, 2014. "Consequences of ADHD medication use for children's outcomes," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 137-151.
    2. Sonja Settele & Reyn van Ewijk, 2017. "The effect of cigarette taxes during pregnancy on educational outcomes of the next generation," IAAEU Discussion Papers 201703, Institute of Labour Law and Industrial Relations in the European Union (IAAEU).
    3. Fahr, René, 2006. "The Wage Effects of Social Norms: Evidence of Deviations from Peers’ Body-Mass in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 2323, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Hans (J.L.W.) van Kippersluis & Niels (C.A.) Rietveld, 2017. "Beyond Plausibly Exogenous," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 17-096/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Zhongliang Zhou & Yu Fang & Zhiying Zhou & Dan Li & Dan Wang & Yanli Li & Li Lu & Jianmin Gao & Gang Chen, 2017. "Assessing Income-Related Health Inequality and Horizontal Inequity in China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 241-256, May.
    6. Woong Lee & Ran Im, 2023. "An Empirical Assessment of the Interactionist Model: The Relationship Between Household Income and Depression Among Retirees in Korea," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 18(2), pages 729-751, April.
    7. Settele, Sonja & Ewijk, Reyn van, 2018. "Can cigarette taxes during pregnancy mitigate the intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 130-148.
    8. Xiangdan Piao & Xinxin Ma & Chi Zhang & Shunsuke Managi, 2020. "Impact of Gaps in the Educational Levels between Married Partners on Health and a Sustainable Lifestyle: Evidence from 32 Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-20, June.
    9. Dixon, Padraig & Hollingworth, William & Harrison, Sean & Davies, Neil M. & Davey Smith, George, 2020. "Mendelian Randomization analysis of the causal effect of adiposity on hospital costs," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Arulsamy, Karen & Delaney, Liam, 2022. "The impact of automatic enrolment on the mental health gap in pension participation: Evidence from the UK," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    11. Donna Gilleskie & Euna Han & Edward Norton, 2017. "Disentangling the Contemporaneous and Dynamic Effects of Human and Health Capital on Wages over the Life Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 25, pages 350-383, April.
    12. John Cawley & Euna Han & Edward C. Norton, 2011. "The validity of genes related to neurotransmitters as instrumental variables," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(8), pages 884-888, August.
    13. R Nakamura & L Siciliani, 2010. "Education and Body Mass Index: Evidence from ECHP," Discussion Papers 10/04, Department of Economics, University of York.
    14. Supa Pengpid & Karl Peltzer, 2019. "Sedentary Behaviour, Physical Activity and Life Satisfaction, Happiness and Perceived Health Status in University Students from 24 Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-7, June.
    15. Nicodemo, Catia & Nicoletti, Cheti & Vidiella-Martin, Joaquim, 2024. "Starting School and ADHD: When Is It Time to Fly the Nest?," IZA Discussion Papers 17091, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Savelyev, Peter A. & Ward, Benjamin C. & Krueger, Robert F. & McGue, Matt, 2022. "Health endowments, schooling allocation in the family, and longevity: Evidence from US twins," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    17. Anger, Silke & Christoph, Bernhard & Galkiewicz, Agata & Margaryan, Shushanik & Peter, Frauke & Sandner, Malte & Siedler, Thomas, 2024. "War, international spillovers, and adolescents: Evidence from Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 181-193.
    18. Wang, Yang & Yang, Muzhe, 2013. "Crisis-induced depression, physical activity and dietary intake among young adults: Evidence from the 9/11 terrorist attacks," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 206-220.
    19. Nudelman, Gabriel & Shiloh, Shoshana, 2015. "Mapping health behaviors: Constructing and validating a common-sense taxonomy of health behaviors," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 1-10.
    20. Zavodny, Madeline, 2013. "Does weight affect children's test scores and teacher assessments differently?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 135-145.

    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:7:y:2010:i:2:p:509-527:d:7122. 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.