Objective: It has been observed during recent decades that a large percentage of the population has an inadequate lifestyle and that there is a need for identifying factors determining such behavior pattern. This study was thus aimed at determining the association between lifestyle and sociodemographic variables of freshmen attending a state university in southern Brazil.
Methods: The sample consisted of 716 students (59.6 % female). The Fantastic questionnaire was used for evaluating the students' lifestyles; their lifestyle was classified as being suitable or inadequate. The sociodemographic variables of interest were gender, age group (<20 and ≥ 20 years), paid work (yes or no), maternal education (≤ 4 years of study, 5-8 years and ≥ 9 years), study shift (daytime or night-time) and marital status (single and married). Binary logistic regression was used for determining associations between lifestyle and sociodemographic characteristics (p<0.05 being significant).
Results: Inadequate lifestyle prevalence was 5.3 %. Adjusted analysis results indicated that students over 20 years-old (OR=2.87: 1.37-6.03 95 %CI) whose mothers' formal education had lasted less than nine years (OR=2.23: 1.29-3.88 95 %CI) had a higher risk of having an inadequate lifestyle.
Conclusion: These findings may be useful for developing university healthcare promotion programs, paying special attention to older freshmen whose mothers have had less formal education.