The prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its association with individual and environmental factors among college students in Kuching, Sarawak

Introduction: Unhealthy snacking behaviour among young people is a growing public health concern because of its negative consequences on health. The present study was to determine the prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its determinants among college students in Kuching. Methodology: In...

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Main Author:	Cheah, Yong Xiang
Format:	Thesis
Language:	English English
Published:	2020
Subjects:	RA0421 Public health Hygiene Preventive Medicine
Online Access:	http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/37746/1/CHEAH%20YONG%20XIANG%20%2824%20pgs%29.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/37746/4/Cheah%20Yong%20Xiang%20ft.pdf
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spelling	my-unimas-ir.377462023-04-25T07:25:49Z The prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its association with individual and environmental factors among college students in Kuching, Sarawak 2020 Cheah, Yong Xiang RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine Introduction: Unhealthy snacking behaviour among young people is a growing public health concern because of its negative consequences on health. The present study was to determine the prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its determinants among college students in Kuching. Methodology: In this crosssectional study, 12 colleges in Kuching were stratified into private and government colleges. Three private and three government colleges were selected through a stratified random sampling method. A total of 422 respondents (male 49.5%, female 50.5%) were recruited in this study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather data regarding unhealthy snacking behaviour and its determinants (gender, food preferences, type of school and courses, taste-and-sensory perception, nutritional knowledge, perceived self-efficacy, and cost/price sensitivity, perceived parental control, easy accessibility, and media advertisements influence) among respondents. The survey was conducted online via e-mail and Whatsapp. Multiple binary logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the data. Result: Nearly a quarter of the respondents (24.6%) practised unhealthy snacking behaviour. More than half of the respondents (58.3%) consumed unhealthy snacks one to three times per week. Only a minority of the respondents (17.1%) claimed that they did not consume any unhealthy snacks for the past month. The final model explained 15.7% of the total variance. Taste-and-sensory perception (Adjusted OR = 2.20, 95% Cl = 1.55 - 3.13, p < 0.001) and nutritional knowledge (Adjusted OR = 1.48, 95% Cl =1.12 - 1.97, p < 0.05) were positively associated with unhealthy snacking behaviour among respondents. Conclusion: The present study suggested the stakeholders for future intervention development by concentrate on nutritional knowledge and tasteand-sensory perception among college students. Moreover, governments may also intervene in unhealthy snack companies by refining certain food policies and strengthen the enforcement of food laws. Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) 2020 Thesis http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/37746/ http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/37746/1/CHEAH%20YONG%20XIANG%20%2824%20pgs%29.pdf text en public http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/37746/4/Cheah%20Yong%20Xiang%20ft.pdf text en validuser masters Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
institution	Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
collection	UNIMAS Institutional Repository
language	English English
topic	RA0421 Public health Hygiene Preventive Medicine
spellingShingle	RA0421 Public health Hygiene Preventive Medicine Cheah, Yong Xiang The prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its association with individual and environmental factors among college students in Kuching, Sarawak
description	Introduction: Unhealthy snacking behaviour among young people is a growing public health concern because of its negative consequences on health. The present study was to determine the prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its determinants among college students in Kuching. Methodology: In this crosssectional study, 12 colleges in Kuching were stratified into private and government colleges. Three private and three government colleges were selected through a stratified random sampling method. A total of 422 respondents (male 49.5%, female 50.5%) were recruited in this study. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather data regarding unhealthy snacking behaviour and its determinants (gender, food preferences, type of school and courses, taste-and-sensory perception, nutritional knowledge, perceived self-efficacy, and cost/price sensitivity, perceived parental control, easy accessibility, and media advertisements influence) among respondents. The survey was conducted online via e-mail and Whatsapp. Multiple binary logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the data. Result: Nearly a quarter of the respondents (24.6%) practised unhealthy snacking behaviour. More than half of the respondents (58.3%) consumed unhealthy snacks one to three times per week. Only a minority of the respondents (17.1%) claimed that they did not consume any unhealthy snacks for the past month. The final model explained 15.7% of the total variance. Taste-and-sensory perception (Adjusted OR = 2.20, 95% Cl = 1.55 - 3.13, p < 0.001) and nutritional knowledge (Adjusted OR = 1.48, 95% Cl =1.12 - 1.97, p < 0.05) were positively associated with unhealthy snacking behaviour among respondents. Conclusion: The present study suggested the stakeholders for future intervention development by concentrate on nutritional knowledge and tasteand-sensory perception among college students. Moreover, governments may also intervene in unhealthy snack companies by refining certain food policies and strengthen the enforcement of food laws.
format	Thesis
qualification_level	Master's degree
author	Cheah, Yong Xiang
author_facet	Cheah, Yong Xiang
author_sort	Cheah, Yong Xiang
title	The prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its association with individual and environmental factors among college students in Kuching, Sarawak
title_short	The prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its association with individual and environmental factors among college students in Kuching, Sarawak
title_full	The prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its association with individual and environmental factors among college students in Kuching, Sarawak
title_fullStr	The prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its association with individual and environmental factors among college students in Kuching, Sarawak
title_full_unstemmed	The prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its association with individual and environmental factors among college students in Kuching, Sarawak
title_sort	prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its association with individual and environmental factors among college students in kuching, sarawak
granting_institution	Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
granting_department	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
publishDate	2020
url	http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/37746/1/CHEAH%20YONG%20XIANG%20%2824%20pgs%29.pdf http://ir.unimas.my/id/eprint/37746/4/Cheah%20Yong%20Xiang%20ft.pdf
_version_	1783728489822683136

The prevalence of unhealthy snacking behaviour and its association with individual and environmental factors among college students in Kuching, Sarawak

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