ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to examine the association between lifestyle, dietary factors and body composition as perceived by students of the University of Benin. To guide this study, six research questions were raised.

The study adopted the descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was delimited to student of the Human Kinetics and Sports Science department. The study population was comprised of Four Hundred and Seventeen (417) students of the Human Kinetics and Sports Science Department. A sample size of One Hundred and Twenty-Five (125) students was selected from the total population. The main instrument of this research is a 29 item self-structured questionnaire which was validated by the researcher’s supervisors and two other experts, all from the Department of Human Kinetics and Sports Science, University of Benin. The instrument was tested for reliability using the Test retest reliability method. The results showed a reliability coefficient of 0.88, which was considered high, acceptable and accurate. Data collection was carried out by the researcher, and the collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 21. The descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation was used for data analysis.

The findings of this study revealed that sedentary lifestyle; smoking/alcohol consumption; physical activity; dieting and meal skipping are associated with body composition among University of Benin students. In contrast, fast food consumption was not associated with body composition among University of Benin students. On the basis of this study, it was recommended that Students need to be educated on the importance of having a healthy lifestyle. It was recommended that practitioners should improve their knowledge on specific causes of weight change, and direct their efforts towards reducing weight gain. Government and stakeholders should initiate interventions focused on optimization of youth health behaviours.