Lifestyle and Sense of Coherence: A comparative analysis among university students in different areas of knowledge

BACKGROUND: The concept of health has undergone profound changes. Lifestyle Medicine consists of therapeutic approaches that focus on the prevention and treatment of diseases. It follows that the quality of life of university students directly affects their health and educational progress. EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY: Socioeconomic, lifestyle (LS), and Salutogenesis Theory/sense of coherence (SOC) questionnaires were administered to college students from three different areas. The results were analyzed for normality and homogeneity, followed by ANOVA variance analysis and Dunn and Tukey post hoc test for multiple comparisons. Spearman’s correlation coefficient evaluated the correlation between lifestyle and sense of coherence; p values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: The correlation between LS and SOC was higher among males and higher among Medical and Human sciences students compared to Exact sciences. Medical students’ scores were higher than Applied sciences and Human sciences students on the LS questionnaire. Exact science students’ scores on the SOC questionnaire were higher than Human sciences students. In the LS areas related to alcohol intake, sleeping quality, and behavior, there were no differences between the areas. However, women scored better in the nutrition domain and alcohol intake. The SOC was also higher in men compared to women. CONCLUSION: The results obtained demonstrate in an unprecedented way in the literature that the correlation between the LS and SOC of college students varies according to gender and areas of knowledge, reflecting the importance of actions on improving students’ quality of life and enabling better academic performance.