Selected health determinants and academic performance of undergraduate students of University Putra Malaysia.

Introduction: Academic performance of university student impacts their future educational attainment and health. The objective of the study was to determine the relationship between the selected health determinants and academic performance of undergraduate students of Universiti Putra Malaysia. Materials & Methods: An analytical cross sectional study was conducted among undergraduate students in Universiti Putra Malaysia. Undergraduate students were chosen by systematic random sampling basedon the list of undergraduate students. A self-administered pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect data on health related behavior and academic performance. Results: There were 9,852undergraduates’population for 2011 and all the entire1314 students completed the questionnaire(672 females and 642 males). The response rate was 100%, the mean age of the respondents was 21.89 and standard deviation is 2.208 years. The sample comprised of 76.7% Malays, 9.8% Chinese and 13.5 % Indians. In terms of academic performance, measured through CGPA showed that 40.7% of the respondents gained below 3.00,39.5% obtained 3.01to 3.50 only 19.6% have good CGPA ranging from 3.51 to 4.00. The majority of the respondent (79.5%) agreed that having good grades is very important. Based on body mass index(BMI)54% or (709) respondents have normal body weight and only 6.2% respondents were obese. There is no significant difference in the mean of academic performance score for males (M=3.22, SD=.371) and female students (M=3.23. SD=.62). There was significant relationship between religiosity, subjective health status, socio economic perception and academic performance (r=.123, P< 0.01). Only three predictor variables were significant in explaining academic performance namely: religiosity(p > .001),health status(p < .007) and physical activity (p < .0.20). Conclusion: This research seeks to contribute to the evidence based on the importance of health on academic performance of the particular university students. The findings from the research support the relationship between the selected health determinants and academic performance of the university students namely religiosity, health status and physical activity.

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