Health behavior changes associated with weight gain among first-year international students studying at an American university

Abstract

Objectives: To characterize the health behaviors and outcomes of first-year international students (FYIS) studying in the U.S. Participants and methods: Three different cohorts of FYIS from a large midwestern university in the U.S. completed three laboratory visits between August and March. The study began in 2017 and ended in March 2020. Anthropometrics, acculturative stress, eating behaviors, sleep, physical activity, and eating habits were assessed. Results: Fifty-four students completed the study. Females had a significant increase in percent body fat (p = .036) and a decrease in sleep quality (p = .006) at the final visit vs. baseline, and uncontrolled (p = .006) and emotional (p < .001) eating behaviors were higher. FYIS who gained more than the median 1.2 kg over the study period experienced higher acculturative stress (p = .004) and a decline in sleep quality (p = .003). Conclusion: Reducing acculturative stress and improving sleep quality should be explored as interventions to protect against undesirable changes in adiposity among FYIS.

Keywords:

• Acculturative stress
• adiposity
• eating behaviors
• physical activity
• sleep

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Michigan State University Human Research Protection Program.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch #1012976 and Michigan AgBioResearch.