The relationship of dental students’ characteristics to social support, psychosocial factors, lifestyle, and quality of life

Figures & data

Figure 1. Full theoretical model on the relationships between sociodemographic characteristics, student academic characteristics, social support, psychosocial factors, lifestyle and quality of life in dental students according to the WHO conceptual framework of social determinants of health and well-being.

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics, student academic characteristics, educational environment, social support, psychosocial factors, lifestyle, and quality of life, according to gender groups.

	Study sample		Female participants		Male participants
Variable	N = 233	Mean (95% CI)/% (95% CI)	N = 193	Mean (95% CI)/% (95% CI)	N = 40	Mean (95% CI)/% (95% CI)	P
Demographics and socioeconomic characteristics
Age, mean	233	22.2 (21.7–22.7)	193	23.7 (21.5–25.8)	40	21.9 (21.6–22.3)	0.670^a
Skin colour, %							0.206^b
White	136	58.4 (51.9–64.6)	110	57.0 (49.9–63.8)	26	65.0 (49.1–78.1)
Black	17	7.3 (4.6–11.5)	12	6.2 (3.6–10.7)	5	12.5 (5.3–26.8)
Brown	70	30.0 (24.5–36.3)	63	32.6 (26.4–39.6)	7	17.5 (8.5–32.5)
Yellow	4	1.7 (0.6–4.5)	4	2.1 (0.8–3.3)	0	–
Indigenous	2	0.9 (0.2–3.4)	1	0.6 (0.1–3.6)	1	2.5 (0.4–15.9)
Did not declare	4	1.7 (0.6–4.5)	3	1.5 (0.5–4.7)	1	2.5 (0.4–15.9)
Monthly family income, %							0.034^b
< 3 BMW	56	24.0 (19.0–30.0)	49	25.4 (19.7–32.0)	7	17.5 (8.5–32.5)
3–6 BMW	79	33.9 (28.1–40.3)	67	34.7 (28.3–41.7)	11	27.5 (15.9–43.3)
> 6–10 BMW	53	22.8 (17.8–28.6)	46	23.8 (18.3–30.4)	7	17.5 (8.6–32.5)
>10 BMW	45	19.3 (14.7–24.9)	31	16.6 (11.1–21.4)	15	37.5 (24.0–53.3)
Social/racial inclusion quotas, %							0.679^b
No	135	57.9 (51.5–64.1)	113	58.5 (51.4–65.3)	22	55.0 (39.5–69.6)
Yes	98	42.6 (35.9–48.5)	80	41.5 (34.7–48.6)	18	45.0 (30.4–60.5)
Student academic characteristics
Thoughts on applying for student leave, %							0.803^b
No	201	86.3 (81.2–90.1)	166	86.0 (80.3–90.2)	35	87.5 (73.2–94.7)
Yes	32	13.7 (9.9–18.8)	27	14.0 (9.8–19.7)	5	12.5 (5.3–2.7)
City of origin differs from the city of the campus, %							0.779^b
No	106	45.5 (39.2–52.0)	87	45.1 (38.2–52.2)	19	47.5 (32.7–62.8)
Yes	127	54.5 (48.0–60.8)	106	54.9 (47.8–61.8)	21	52.5 (37.2–67.4)
Current academic semester, %							0.745^b
1–3	87	37.3 (31.3–43.8)	74	38.3 (31.7–45.4)	13	32.5 (19.9–48.4)
4–5	88	37.8 (31.7–44.2)	71	36.8 (30.3–43.9)	17	42.5 (28.2–58.1)
6–9	58	24.9 (19.7–30.9)	48	24.9 (19.3–31.5)	10	25.0 (14.0–40.6)
Educational environment (DREEM), mean	233	143.8 (60.0–227.5)	193	99.6 (96.1–103.1)	40	109.5 (102.8–116.1)	0.022^c
Social support (SSA), mean	233	81.4 (79.4–83.4)	193	81.3 (79.1–83.5)	40	81.9 (77.2–86.6)	0.226^a
Psychosocial factors
Sense of coherence (SOC-13), mean	233	40.3 (39.6–41.2)	193	39.8 (38.9–40.8)	40	42.5 (40.0–44.9)	0.033^c
Anxiety (DASS-21), mean	233	13.6 (12.2–15.0)	193	14.7 (13.2–16.2)	40	8.4 (5.3–11.4)	<0.001^a
Lifestyle (ILP), mean	233	21.0 (20.1–21.8)	193	20.6 (19.7–21.6)	40	22.5 (20.3–24.6)	0.124^c
Quality of life (VERAS-Q)	233		193		40
Total score, mean		123.3 (120.3–126.2)		120.8 (117.7–123.9)		135.2 (127.8–142.6)	0.001^a
Use of time, mean		26.8 (25.7–27.8)		25.8 (24.7–26.9)		31.3 (28.8–33.8)	<0.001^a
Psychological, mean		32.5 (31.6–33.5)		31.9 (30.9–33.0)		35.5 (32.8–38.1)	0.008^a
Physical, mean		20.0 (19.3–20.6)		19.5 (18.8–20.2)		22.3 (20.7–23.9)	0.002^a
Educational environment, mean		44.0 (13.1–44.9)		43.6 (42.6–44.5)		46.2 (43.9–48.5)	0.032^c

BMW, Brazilian minimal wage (1BMW = 226$).

^aMann–Whitney test.

^bPearson’s chi-square test.

^ct-test.

Figure 2. Confirmatory factor analysis of the four latent variables (measurement model).

Figure 3. Parsimonious model of the relationships between sociodemographic characteristics, student academic characteristics, social support, psychosocial factors, lifestyle, and quality of life. All figures are standardised beta coefficients: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01.

Table

	Quality of life
Variables	β	95%CI	P
Gender	−0.03	−0.16/0.11	0.708
Skin colour	−0.05	−0.15/0.06	0.381
Social/racial inclusion quotas	−0.05	−0.16/0.06	0.355
Monthly family income	0.01	−0.11/0.13	0.892
Thoughts about student leave	−0.14	−0.29/−0.04	0.032
Academic semester	−0.02	−0.14/0.10	0.768
Moved home	0.09	−0.04/0.21	0.186
Social support	0.20	0.07/0.30	0.001
Sense of coherence	0.25	0.10/0.40	0.001
Anxiety	−0.22	−0.34/−0.10	< 0.001
Educational environment	−0.04	−0.14/0.06	0.469
Lifestyle	0.73	0.54/0.91	< 0.001
	Lifestyle
	β	95%CI	P
Gender	−0.22	−0.38/−0.06	0.008
Monthly family income	0.04	−0.12/0.21	0.603
Academic semester	−0.05	−0.21/0.11	0.549
Moved home	−0.18	−0.34/−0.02	0.032
Social support	0.24	0.06/0.42	0.009
Sense of coherence	0.21	0.02/0.40	0.036
Anxiety	−0.21	−0.39/0.04	0.231
	Educational environment
	β	95%CI	P
Gender	−0.16	−0.29/−0.03	0.013
Monthly family income	0.01	−0.12/0.14	0.910
Academic semester	0.05	−0.08/0.18	0.418
Social support	−0.02	−0.16/0.12	0.816
Sense of coherence	−0.13	−0.26/0.01	0.267
	Anxiety
	β	95%CI	P
Academic semester	0.18	0.06/0.30	0.003
Moved home	0.04	−0.08/0.16	0.533
Social support	−0.24	−0.37/−0.12	< 0.001
	Thoughts about student leave
	β	95%CI	P
Social support	0.13	−0.01/0.26	0.125
Anxiety	0.16	0.03/0.28	0.017
Educational environment	−0.03	−0.15/0.10	0.660
	Social/racial inclusion quotas
	β	95%CI	P
Skin colour	0.27	0.16/0.39	< 0.001
Monthly family income	−0.05	−0.17/0.08	0.543

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy and ethical restrictions. The eligible participants of the present study were all dental students aged 18 years and older from one university in Brazil – Fluminense Federal University. Since this information was disclosed in the manuscript, we would like to consider making the data available only upon request.