Factors like exposure to obesity, culture, body image, social ties, and stress increase college students' propensity of becoming obese

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Some of the main factors that influence college students’ propensity of becoming obese are the following: prolonged exposure to obese people, culture, body image, social interactions with acquaintances or relatives, and stress. An imbalance of these may result in an unwanted increase in weight gain, and in the future may even affect you in your workplace.

It is often assumed that obesity is caused only by eating too much unhealthy food and not exercising, however this is not the case. Obesity is a more complex issue, some factors that play a role in college students’ inclination towards becoming obese are unalterable, like race and culture. Obesity is a relevant issue today and my goal is to discuss some of the research that has been found. And attempting to find ways to prevent obesity from rising across colleges.

Prevalence of obesity, culture, and body image affect college students' negative views on obesity

A study concluded that the more time Japanese college students spent in New York City, the more the college students increased their Ideal Body Size because they were getting used to seeing people of bigger weights. However, after a few days of arriving to the United States the Japanese students had previously indicated they wanted a lower Ideal Body Size than when they were questioned the second time. This shows the effect prolonged exposure to obesity has on college students, it reduces the amount of negative views they have.

One of the persons I interviewed was Doctor of Public Health, Linda Aldoory. I asked her what she thought about the study mentioned in the research article above and her response was the following:

Aldoory responded that she believes body image and culture are significant factors that play a major role in people's perceptions on their bodies. Body image referring to the "perception of one's own body size." Aldoory goes on to mention that perceiving differences in our bodies may cause us to eat in response to that feeling.

Social ties can change college students’ Body Mass Index by more than 50 percent 

Another study I came across shows that social interactions with people we know can count for more than half of the change in our Body Mass Indexes. These results came from a study done on 42 college students that measured their mobile activity and how often the students contacted people they knew. Another expert I interviewed was Doctor of Individual and Family Sciences, Elaine Anderson. The first question I asked her was whether or not she believed social ties are relevant to obesity and why she believes so. Her response was the following:

Anderson responded that she believes social ties are relevant, because family members often model how we are supposed to eat. She goes on to explain that according to how we see our family eat (i.e. the ways, amounts, and types of foods they eat), is what sets the standard or becomes the norm of eating to us.

Stress affects the behavior patterns of college students, which increases their likelihood of gaining unwanted weight  

Another factor found to play a large role on college students’ weight is stress. College students experience a large, and rapid increase in weight in comparison to non-college persons (i.e. college-aged individuals who do not attend college). The study found that stress among other emotions affected the decisions college students made on what to eat, how much alcohol to drink, and other behavior patterns.

As a result of the shifts in those college students’ behaviors, there was an increased chance that they would gain unwanted weight. Initially the objective of this study was to focus on why college students gain weight and whether race was a large enough factor that affected college students’ weights as well. However, the evidence for that hypothesis was insufficient.

I asked Anderson whether or not she agreed that stress is a relevant issue when discussing weight changes. She said this in response:

Anderson agreed that stress is relevant when talking about eating behaviors. She explained how everyone has stress in their lives, and how some people cope with the stress in their lives by increasing the amount of food they eat as well as the quality of the food. Anderson gave the example of eating junk food, which many people openly admit to doing.

Lakshmi06's intriguing answers

Student discusses fact she has learned through her research

High School runner from Wisconsin, disqualified from cross country 5K race for helping carry competitor to finish line

Teagan Monfils, a junior at Shawano High School in Wisconsin, was disqualified from a 5K cross country race on October 26^th. The reason she was disqualified from the 5K race was because she decided to aid a fellow competitor in finishing the race. Teagan Monfils says the reason she decided to help the competitor was because she saw her fall down and look “wobbly.” Teagan then proceeded to run up next to the competitor and ask her whether she felt alright. In addition, Teagan mentions how she helped her competitor finish the race because she believes if she had been in the same situation that another competitor would have also come to help her. Author Katie Kindelan emphasized throughout the article how Teagan Monfils reacted out of instinct when the competitor, who was in front of her, fell down. Although Teagan had been running since she was in the fifth grade, Teagan did not immediately think about the consequences to come from helping the competitor. Ultimately the article helps stress that there are not very many athletes, like Teagan Monfils, who would go out of their way to help other competitors during a competition. And how this would be nice to see throughout different sports in addition to good sportsmanship.

Recommendation of personalized list of other articles readers may be interested in viewing

The Yahoo! News article shows a good example of personalization. At the end of the story there is a list of recommended articles from which the reader chooses the one(s) s/he finds most interesting to them. The way the list is created to fit one’s interests is that the website keeps track of what type of stories you choose to read. For example, if the reader read an article pertaining to entertainment news they would more than likely find a couple of articles in the “recommended for you” list that deal with entertainment news. Personalization is when things are modified to mirror the audience’s personality and/or views.

Interactivity via videos, opportunities to post/link on social media platforms, and option to decide what future articles they would enjoy

The article, “Wisconsin High School Runner Carries Competitor to the Finish Line”, gives good examples of interactivity. The first example is the two videos in the article. The reader is allowed to pause, go back, and/or replay the video among other options to view the video at their pace. Another example of interactivity is the links at the top and bottom of the article. The reader has the opportunity to choose whether or not they would like to share the story they have read with their friends and followers on social media. And a final example of interactivity seen at the top of article, following the title, is the reader’s option of choosing a button (save, more like this, and fewer like this) to decide whether they would like to read future articles that are similar or different from the one they have read. Interactivity is like effective and constant feedback between two people or a person and technology.

Contiguity seen via cohesion of text and videos, which help readers have a better understanding of what occurred at the race on October 26^th

When reading the article, without viewing the videos, the reader may be confused or unsure of the manner in which Teagan Monfils helped aid the other competitor in finishing the 5K race. But by viewing the video the reader will be able to better understand how Teagan carried the other competitor to the finish line, which caused Teagan’s disqualification from the race. Contiguity is cohesiveness between mostly two things as a result of their nearness. In this case the article’s text and videos.

Kick-outs seen in tab showing upcoming videos, and sections showing other popular/interesting stories can distract reader from initial story

There are three different kick-outs seen in the article that may shift the readers’ attention. The first kick-out is the tab on the first video’s screen that shows the following video to come. And when expanded lists other videos the reader may possibly be interested in seeing. The second kick-out is the “Featured” section at the bottom right of the screenshot. This section shows other featured stories that may be interesting. And the final kick-out in the article is the “Top Entertainment Stories” section at the top right of the screenshot. This section is similar to the “Featured” section in the sense that the stories in both of the sections can catch the reader’s attention more than the main article. And can lead to the reader clicking on other articles that are not related to the initial article the reader had chosen to read in the first place. A kick-out is something that makes a person lose interest in their current endeavor and more interested in finding something else to do.

Study finds teens in the United States who view television are more prone to obesity than teens who play video games

Television is the type of media that has both a greater effect on young adolescents (25.5%) and a positive relationship with the participants’ Body Mass Index (BMI). This means the more a teen viewed television, in comparison to playing video games or spending time on the computer, the more likely the teen’s BMI would increase (i.e. the teen will be more prone to obesity). In 2013 a research study was conducted on 91 students in the New England area of the United States by a group of doctors and researchers. The group created a study to find out which of 3 main types of media (i.e. television, video games, and the computer) caught the greatest percentage of attentiveness from young adolescents. And whether there was a linkage between the media considered most attention-getting and an increase in the body mass indexes (BMI) of young adolescents. Participants in the study were 13-15 years old. They had to be measured by height and weight, complete a diary that reported the amount of time spent on each type of media, and the participants had to carry a handheld device that would question their activities. However in the end participants were compensated with money!

United States users' interaction with digital information on their mobile devices

By Michael47 and Elizabeth14

What will be discussed throughout this post
Our chosen topic is how the United States, in comparison to other different countries, accesses the news. How the United States' interest in the news differs from other countries. How age can be a factor in influencing both the interest in news and how often a person accesses the news.

United States ranked as the fifth country with the most interest in news

The following graph, in the research article, shows the diversity of interests in the news across different countries. Our main focus is on the United States of America. By looking at the graph, we can infer that the United States is in the fifth place of the most interested country in news with a percentage of 68. While the top most interested country, out of the ten countries shown, is Brazil with 87 percent. An underlying factor is the cause of this imbalance, and it may be age of persons in each country which was also mentioned in the research article.

Interest in news increases, in every country around the world, as age increases

The following simple graph, in the research article, shows the difference in interest in the news changes as age varies. From the graph, which shows the overall average amongst all the ten countries, we can infer that there is a positive relationship between age and the amount of interest in the news. As a person’s age increases, their percentage in amount of interest in the news increases as well. This graph helps emphasize that age does have an overall effect on a person and how interested the person will be into looking for what is happening in the news will change over time.

Older people prefer to get their news through the television, while younger people prefer online platforms

The following graph, in the research article, shows the preferred platform (i.e. the mode) through which people of different age brackets choose to view their news. The percentages measure the average amongst all ten countries. By looking at the graph we can infer that older people (i.e. people over the age of 55) like to hear or see the news through the television, while in comparison younger people (i.e. people between the ages of 18-24) prefer to hear or see their news online. Again, the graph helps emphasize that the research found age is an important factor that affects our views on the best way to hear/see news. And affects the amount of interest we have in being informed on what is happening in our country.

People in different countries, besides the U.S., access news mostly through television, like to receive news as stories/lists, on Facebook, and have preference of reading news in text format

The following mixture of graphs, from the research article, focus on describing different forms in which countries around the world receive their news. And in the ways these people prefer to view the news. The graph shown on the first slide shows how both smartphone and tablet users from different countries, together, like to view television news as an outside source on the news versus radio news. The second graph shows how the majority of people in the United States like to receive their weekly news as stories. The third graph shows the average people amongst all countries prefer to receive their news via Facebook in comparison to other social networks (i.e. YouTube, Twitter, etc.). And the last graph describes different countries’ preferences on reading/watching news. The United States has a major preference to read news via text.

Types of technologies Towson University Undergraduate students use to communicate with fellow Undergraduate peers