Impact of mass media on nutritional status of university students of Hisar city
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Date
2015
Authors
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Publisher
CCSHAU
Abstract
The study was conducted on 180 students from university of Hisar city viz. HAU, GJU and
LUVAS with the objectives to assess nutritional status of female students in universities of Hisar city
and study the impact of socioeconomic status and mass media on nutritional status. In the present
study, majority of the subjects belonged to caste category ‗General‘ (50.6%); were day scholars
(83.89%) and had private schooling (68.3%). Most of subjects (55%) belonged to the small cities; 38.3
per cent belonged to the rural areas and 6.7 per cent of the respondents belonged to the metropolitan
areas. Majority of them had their permanent residence in ‗small cities‘ (55.0%) and were ‗Hindu‘ by
religion (95.6%) and religiously ‗liberal‘ (53.9%). Majority of respondents belonged to nuclear families
(71.7%) and had a family income between Rs.30-60,000/month (46.1%). Majority of subjects had
parents with education ‗below graduate‘ (47.29% mothers; 39.47% fathers) and had ‗fit‘ body weight
(71.1% mothers; 76.7% fathers). Majority of respondents‘ fathers were non-government employees
(35.6%) and mothers were housewives (77.2%). Mean height of respondents under study was
157.73±5.79 cm and mean body weight was48.52±7.51. Mean BMI was 19.44±2.92 kg/m². Mean body
fat per cent was 24.61±5.46 per cent and waist/hip ratio was 0.85±0.05. Mean height, weight and waist
ratio were significantly (p≤0.05) lower than the ICMR reference values. About 42.2, 52.8, 3.3 and 1.7
per cent of subjects were respectively underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese. Mean body
weight and fat corresponded to mean BMI in different health categories. TV was the most preferred
media source and daily soaps/ serials and music videos were the most preferred programmes. The mean
exposure score of subjects was (12.49±2.88) and majority (86.67%) of the subjects had medium media
exposure. There was no significant difference between media exposure of subjects from three
universities. Majority of subjects (40.00%) agreed that the figures of models in media do influence the
general ideas of ideal perception. Majority of subjects depicted body satisfaction. Effect of media and
globalization was conspicuous on eating habits and food choices of subjects. Data indicated that
frequency of consumption of chapatti, rice, pulses, green leafy and other vegetables and fruits was
satisfactory being ‗once daily‘ or more for majority of respondents. Other foods that found a frequent
place in daily diet were tea, breakfast cereals and jam as topping. Coffee, fresh juice, soft drinks and
potato as snack were consumed ‗rarely‘ by majority. Mean daily cereals‘ intake was significantly
(p≤0.05) higher than the RDI while that of pulses, root and tubers, other vegetables, green leafy
vegetables, milk and milk products and fats and oils was significantly (p≤0.05) lower than the RDI.
The mean daily intake of energy of the subjects was 113.35 per cent of RDA and the difference was
significantly (p≤0.05) higher while that of protein, calcium , iron, β -carotene and Vit. C intake was
found to be significantly (p≤0.05) lower than the RDA. Pearson‘s Chi square test revealed no
significant (p≤0.05) association between any of the socio economic variables and BMI based weight
categories except family income. Also, no significant (p≤0.05) association was observed between
media exposure groups and BMI based weight categories. However adequacy ratio for energy, fat and
protein were significantly associated with media exposure and family income.
Description
Keywords
Biological phenomena, Fats, Beverages, Productivity, Fruits, Mass media, Diseases, Animal husbandry, Nutrients, Snack foods