Influence of social media marketing on nutrition and physical activity behaviors of Romanian Generation Z students
Main Article Content
Keywords
social media, marketing, physical activity, nutritional behavior, HEI 2015 index, BMI
Abstract
A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1,284 students (18–25 y) including male and female students belonging to all the ages comprising the age group studied. Anthropometric measurements, i.e. height and weight were performed to calculate the body mass index (BMI). Social media (SM) usage, physical activity (PA), and nutrition behavior (NB) of the study’s subjects were assessed based on the student’s responses on a self-administered questionnaire. This questionnaire contained two sections: a section about the participants’ demographics and time spent on SM and another section that collected the participants’ views concerning the impact of SM advertisements (ads) on PA and NB. NB was assessed with the help of the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) and PA was expressed in the metabolic equivalent (MET) of min/week. The subjects were divided into 3 categories in consideration of three possible responses to SM ads regarding nutrition and physical activity. These categories were: ignored, clicked and changed behavior. Two weeks after the initiation of the main study, 137 subjects including both male and female students was constituted to participate in an ancillary study. The students belonging to this sub-group were aged between 19–25 years and were randomly selected. Gender variations in SM usage were reported as the female students were found to be spending more time on SM platforms. Students who had a greater interest in diet ads on the SM platforms had higher HEI-2015 averaging 4.5 points (male) and 3.1 points (females) and lower BMI averaging 3.7 units (male) and 3.9 units (female) than those who ignored these ads. Increased PA of these students by 3,427.16 MET (male) and 3,307.53 MET (female) helped in reducing their BMI by 2.9 units (male) and by 2.8 units (female) was observed among the students with high interest in fitness programs promoted on SM.
References
2. Schnettler B, Grunert KG, Orellana L, Sepúlveda J, Miranda H, Lobos G, et al. Dietary restraint, life satisfaction and self-discrepancy by gender in university students. Suma Psicol 2017; 24: 25–33.
3. Allom V, Mullan B. Maintaining healthy eating behaviour: Experiences and perceptions of young adults. Nutr Food Sci 2014; 44: 156–167.
4. Ozkok GA, Evaluation of dietary habits among university students in Konya, Turkey. International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences 2015; 4(4): 431–438.
5. Deliens T, Clarys P, De Bourdeaudhuij I, Deforche B. Determinants of eating behaviour in university students: A qualitative study using focus group discussions. BMC Public Health 2014 Jan 18; 14: 53.
6. Desai MN, Miller WC, Staples B, Bravender T. Risk factors associated with overweight and obesity in college students. Journal of American College Health 2008; 57(1): 109–114.
7. World Health Organization. Interventions on diet and physical activity: What works: Summary report, Geneva 2009. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK177205/
8. Hawkes C. Promoting healthy diets through nutrition education and changes in the food environment: An international review of actions and their effectiveness. Rome: Nutrition Education and Consumer Awareness Group, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2013. Available at: www.fao.org/ag/humannutrition/nutritioneducation/69725/en
9. Carins J, Rundle-Thiele S. Eating for the better: A social marketing review (2000–2012). Public Health Nutrition 2014;17(7): 1628–1639.
10. Pilli O. The Changes in social media usage: Students’ perspective. The Anthropologist 2015; 22: 345–354.
11. Alnjadat R, Hmaidi MM, Samha TE, Kilani MM, Hasswan AM. Gender variations in social media usage and academic performance among the students of University of Sharjah. J Taibah Univ Med Sci 2019 Jun 14;14(4): 390–394.
12. Sheehan, B. (2010). Basics Marketing : Online Marketing. London, GBR:AVA Publishing.
13. Facebook Statistics2020. Retrieved 30.5.2020 from http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
14. Cheng H, Kotler P, Lee N. 2011.Social marketing for public health: Global trends and success stories. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
15. Andreasen AR, Herzberg B. Social marketing applied to economic reforms. Soc Mark 2005;Q 11: 3–17.
16. Carins JE, Rundle-Thiele SR. Eating for the better: A social marketing review (2000–2012). Public Health Nutr 2014 Jul; 17(7):1628–39.
17. The international physical activity questionnaire 2005. Available at http://www.ipaq.ki.se/
18. National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences. Comparing the HEI-2015, HEI-2010, and HEI-2005 2020. Available at: https://epi.grants.cancer.gov/hei/comparing.html.
19. The diet history questionnaire III 2016. Available at: https://www.dhq3.org/study/study_id=101/view-questionnaire/
20. Shah NR, Braverman ER. Measuring adiposity in patients: The utility of body mass index (BMI), percent body fat, and leptin. PLoS One 2012; 7(4): e33308. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033308.
21. Alnjadat R, Hmaidi MM, SamhaTE, Kilani MM, Hasswan AM. Gender variations in social media usage and academic performance among the students of University of Sharjah. J Taibah Univ Med Sc 2019;14(4): 390e394.
22. Alahmar A. The impact of social media on the academic performance of second year medical students at College of Medicine, University of Babylon, Iraq. J Med Allied Sci 2016; 6(2): 77.
23. Hawkins LK, Farrow C, Thomas JM. Do perceived norms of social media users’ eating habits and preferences predict our own food consumption and BMI?. Appetite 2010; 149: 104611.
24. Savu CV, Gheorghiu A, Trandafir M, Serea C, Barna O. Influence of food behavior and physical activity in relation to the overall physical condition of Romanian students. Progr Nutr 2019; 20, 21(4): 1003–10.
25. Laska MN, Pelletier JE, Larson NI, Story M. Interventions for weight gain prevention during the transition to young adulthood: A review of the literature. Journal of Adolescent Health 2012; 50(4): 324–333.
26. McGloin AF, Eslami S. Digital and social media opportunities for dietary behaviour change. Proc Nutr Soc 2015 May; 74(2): 139–48.
27. Gheorghiu A, Savu VC, Trandafir M, Serea C, Barna O. The relationship between physical activity and food habits of students: A case study. Prog Nutr 2019; 21(4):1029–33.
28. Norman GJ, Zabinski MF, Adams MA, Rosenberg DE, Yaroch AL, Atienza AA. A review of eHealth interventions for physical activity and dietary behavior change. Am J Prev Med 2007 Oct; 33(4): 336–345.
29. Parks PE, Moore RH, Li Z, Bishop-Gilyard CT, Garrett AR, Hill DL, Bruton YP, Sarwer DB. Assessing the feasibility of a social media to promote weight management engagement in adolescents with severe obesity: Pilot study. JMIR Res Protoc 2018; 7(3): e52.
30. Trandafir M, Savu CV, Gheorghiu A, Serea C, Barna O. The correlation between the media usage, physical activities and nutritional approach for Romanian students. Progr Nutr 2020; 22(2): 577–587.
31. Dunne DM, Lefevre C, Cunniffe B, Tod D, Close GL, Morton JP, Murphy R. Performance Nutrition in the digital era – An exploratory study into the use of social media by sports nutritionists. J Sports Sci 2019 Nov; 37(21): 2467–2474.
32. Huang TT-K, Harris KJ, Lee RE, Nazir N, Born W, Kaur H. Assessing overweight, obesity, diet, and physical activity in college students. Journal of American College Health 2003; 52(2): 83–86.
33. Cavallo DN, Tate DF, Ries AV, et al. A social media-based physical activity intervention: A randomized controlled trial. Am J Prev Med 2012; 43: 527–32.
34. Lachausse RG. My student body: Effects of an internet-based prevention program to decrease obesity among college students. J Am Coll Health 2012; 60: 324–30.
35. Gorski MT, Roberto CA. Public health policies to encourage healthy eating habits: Recent perspectives. J Healthc Leadersh 2015; 7: 81–90.
36. Sert H, Seven A, Çetinkaya S, Pelin M, Aygin D. Evaluation of prejudice against obesity in health high school students. Online Turkish J Health Sci 2016; 1(4): 9–17.
Article Sidebar
Article Details
How to Cite
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Transfer of Copyright and Permission to Reproduce Parts of Published Papers.
Authors retain the copyright for their published work. No formal permission will be required to reproduce parts (tables or illustrations) of published papers, provided the source is quoted appropriately and reproduction has no commercial intent. Reproductions with commercial intent will require written permission and payment of royalties.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
