Universities And Overweight Students: Discrimination Or Health Concern?

In the United States, almost one in three college students are obese. This is a global problem, but college students in the US are among the most affected populations. Obesity is a risk factor for a variety of health conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension. It can also negatively impact students' grades and self-esteem.

The two most significant causes of obesity among college students are poor food choices and large meal portions. College students also tend to have stressful lives with hectic schedules, and they often have limited financial budgets, which can make it difficult to make healthy choices. Consumption of alcohol is also rampant among college students and is typically not seen as a risk factor for obesity. As they get involved in their busy work schedules and social lives, they find less time to indulge in physical activity.

Colleges can help tackle this problem by providing obesity prevention education and developing weight-gain prevention programs for students. They can also improve the variety and nutritional value of food in cafeterias and dorms, and offer financial wellness and health wellness in the orientation agenda during admissions.

Students can also take steps to develop healthy habits and prevent weight gain, such as creating realistic goals and plans, stocking up on low-cost non-perishable snacks, learning to navigate through stress by practicing mindfulness and meditation, and staying physically active.

The prevalence of obesity among college students in the US

The transition from the late teens to the early twenties is an important developmental time period, marked by increasing independence and autonomy. This transition, dubbed 'emerging adulthood', represents an opportunity for young people to develop new behavioural patterns, including diet, physical activity and other weight-related behaviours. Such behaviours may track into later adulthood, making this time period a particularly important one for behavioural health interventions.

Two of the most significant causes of obesity among college students are poor food choices and large meal portions. Once a student leaves their home, they become responsible for buying groceries, meal choices, cooking methods, etc. Many students are doing this for the first time in their lives. This, coupled with the limited financial budget, makes their choices even more difficult. Hence, the tendency to do the easiest thing is to grab the first item available to eat at the lowest cost.

College students live a stressful life with hectic schedules and multiple assignment deadlines to meet. Unhealthy eating or snacking related to stress and late-night studying further add to their poor habits. Consumption of alcohol is rampant among college students and is typically not seen as being a risk factor for obesity. A recent study showed that more than 80% of college students drink alcohol, and more than half of them report binge drinking.

As college students get involved in their busy work schedules and social lives, they find less time to indulge in physical activity. They spend a lot of time sitting in classes, completing assignments on computers, or using social media, which results in "limited movement" throughout the day.

There are several strategies that can be employed to address the problem of obesity among college students. One strategy is to provide obesity prevention education. Some colleges have also developed "Weight-gain prevention programs" for the students. These programs offer access to education about nutrition, group physical activity classes, and psychological coaching for developing healthy, sustainable habits.

Another strategy is to improve the food environment on college campuses. This includes providing a variety of healthy food options in the cafeteria and changing menus regularly. Colleges could also consider including financial wellness and health wellness in the orientation agenda during admissions.

Overall, the prevalence of obesity among college students in the US is a significant issue that requires a multi-faceted approach to address effectively.

The impact of obesity on students' academic performance

Obesity is a complex adaptation to existing environments that greatly favour high energy intake and low energy expenditure. In the United States, 3 out of 10 college students are either overweight or obese. The question of how obesity affects academic performance is an important one, as understanding the pathways through which obesity is associated with lower socioeconomic outcomes such as educational achievement and attainment has become an increasingly pressing task for social scientists.

The Impact of Obesity on Academic Performance

The relationship between obesity and academic performance is complex and multifaceted. While obesity is not associated with lower test scores, it does appear to cause lower grade point averages (GPAs). This suggests that the relationship between obesity and academic performance may result largely from how educational institutions interact with bodies of different sizes, rather than primarily via constraints on physical health.

Obesity and Test Scores

There is no consistent relationship between obesity and drop-out status or test scores. Studies have found no robust relationship between obesity and scores on a range of tests, some designed to assess aptitude or intelligence, and others designed to assess learning and achievement.

Obesity and GPA

Obesity is associated with lower GPAs among students. Four studies on US samples have focused primarily on determining the direction of this relationship, asking whether obesity causes lower grades. As poor school performance is associated with depression, and depression is associated with increased risk of obesity among adolescents, the reverse causal ordering of low academic standing leading to an increase in body mass seems possible. Nonetheless, findings across multiple datasets and methods affirm that obesity does appear to play a causal role in lowering GPA, rather than being solely a symptom of poor academic performance.

Mechanisms

The mechanisms driving the relationship between obesity and lower GPAs remain an open question, as obesity could lead to lower academic performance through a number of plausible pathways.

Physical Health

Obesity has the potential to affect educational performance via poor health and a resulting decrease in work productivity. Of the four studies establishing causation in the relationship between obesity and GPA, only one exclusively assumes this pathway, categorising obesity as a physical health challenge.

Social Pathways

Obesity is also a socially sanctioned characteristic of the physical body. In a culture where femininity is predicated on "appearing small, petite, frail, submissive or otherwise non-threatening", an obese female body is a refusal to be disciplined. Obesity in women is sanctioned accordingly, rendered unattractive and desexualised. Obese individuals do not choose to be obese. Many paths lead to obesity, and each is shaped by a unique combination of intertwined biological, psychosocial, environmental, and cultural influences.

Obese students may be discriminated against by teachers, who might grade them more harshly than a student of normal weight regardless of actual academic performance. Lower teacher expectations of obese students might affect grades indirectly if obese students underperform in class due to internalisation of such lower expectations or factors such as stereotype threat. Teachers might also expect obese students to be more emotional, less tidy, and less likely to succeed at schoolwork than their normal-weight peers, while students as young as kindergarten associate obesity with being stupid, ugly, mean, sloppy, and having few friends. Consistent with the hypothesis that such stigmatisation may motivate differential social interaction among overweight and obese students, overweight and obesity have been associated with bullying behaviours: victimisation as early as age11, and by age 15, also perpetration.

Unobserved Variables

Another possibility is that unobserved variables that produce both poor educational outcomes and increased body mass may be at play. Analyses of the relationship between body mass and wages have been particularly sensitive to the assumptions made about unobserved heterogeneity, and the same might be expected to hold when modelling the relationship between body mass and any other socioeconomic outcome. In addition to being difficult to disprove, this hypothesis is also highly contentious, as it easily translates into a narrative of blaming obesity on underlying biological or psychological dispositions of obese individuals.

Differences by Race and Sex

The links between obesity, femininity, and subject-specific academic performance may also be expected to differ by race. The association between obesity and GPA has been found to hold for white students only, mirroring the differences by race found in the literature on obesity and wages. This pattern is commonly attributed to variation by race in social sanctioning of body size, wherein obesity among Black women is subject to less negative perceptions within-race than is obesity among white women. In addition, the majority of studies of gender-math and gender-science stereotypes use almost exclusively white samples. It is thus unclear that biases associating gender with subject-specific academic performance would be expected to hold among minorities, particularly since Black and Hispanic girls consistently outperform same-race boys in math.

Differences by Course Subject

Obesity is associated with lower GPA among white girls in English, where their "unfeminine" physical appearance stands in sharpest contrast to the female gendering of the course subject itself; since femininity is not privileged in math, the relevant difference between an obese white girl and her normal-weight peers would be less. This pattern of associations would be expected if obesity largely influences academic performance through differential treatment such as discrimination and stigma, yielding intuition about the pathways through which visible bodily characteristics such as obesity are rendered salient for educational outcomes.

The findings suggest that the relationship between obesity and academic performance may result largely from how educational institutions interact with bodies of different sizes, rather than primarily via constraints on physical health. Obese children show domain-specific working memory deficits, whereas they recall more items than normal-weight children in working memory tasks associated with food/drink.

Causes of obesity among college students

The causes of obesity among college students are multifactorial and are influenced by a combination of biological, psychosocial, environmental, and cultural factors. Here are some of the key factors contributing to obesity among college students:

• Poor food choices: College students often have limited financial budgets and may opt for cheaper, less nutritious food options. They may also have limited access to healthy food options on campus, leading to unhealthy eating habits.
• Large meal portions: Many college dining halls offer unlimited refills, contributing to increased food consumption and weight gain.
• Stress and hectic schedules: College life can be stressful, and students may resort to unhealthy eating or snacking to cope.
• Alcohol consumption: Binge drinking is common among college students, and alcohol is a significant source of empty calories, contributing to weight gain.
• Lack of physical activity: College students often spend a lot of time sitting in classes, using computers, or on social media, resulting in limited daily movement.
• Genetic factors: In some cases, obesity may be influenced by genetic factors, although this is less common than environmental factors.
• Sleep deprivation: College students often have irregular sleep schedules, which can disrupt hormones that regulate hunger and fullness, leading to increased food intake.
• Unhealthy cooking methods: When students cook for themselves, they may opt for unhealthy cooking methods, such as frying, which can increase calorie intake.
• Social influences: The social environment on campus can also influence eating habits. For example, eating with peers who have unhealthy eating habits can reinforce poor food choices.
• Transition to independence: When students leave home, they may struggle to develop healthy eating and cooking habits, especially if they have limited knowledge about nutrition.
• Misinformation: College students may lack accurate information about nutrition and physical activity, leading to poor food choices and inadequate exercise habits.
• Emotional eating: Stress, anxiety, and depression are common among college students, and some may turn to food for comfort, leading to excessive calorie intake.

Strategies to prevent obesity among college students

Strategies for students

• Students can be encouraged to develop healthy habits and prevent weight gain by changing their behaviour and building sustainable habits.
• Students can be taught the responsibility of arranging their meals so that they become comfortable in independently making healthier choices.
• Students can be encouraged to create realistic goals and plans for their eating habits.
• Students can be encouraged to stock up on low-cost non-perishable snacks like nuts, cheese, hard-boiled eggs, oatmeal, and fruit cups.
• Students can be encouraged to learn to navigate through stress by practising mindfulness and meditation.
• Students can be encouraged to avoid all-nighters and develop healthy sleeping habits.
• Students can be encouraged to stay physically active, for example by walking to class and taking the stairs instead of elevators.
• Students can be encouraged to get involved in sports clubs or leagues to engage in vigorous physical activity routinely.
• Students can be encouraged to invest in buying a cheap pedometer to track their daily step count.

Strategies for universities

• Universities can provide obesity prevention education.
• Universities can develop "weight-gain prevention programs" for students.
• Universities can include financial wellness and health wellness in the orientation agenda during admissions.
• Universities can offer a variety of healthy foods in the cafeteria and change menus regularly.
• Universities can label foods with green/yellow and red stickers to indicate which food is healthy and which should be limited.
• Universities can affiliate with local grocery stores offering coupons and lower rates for groceries to their students.
• Universities can partner with local farmers' markets and potentially hold a weekly farmers market on campus offering affordable healthy groceries to their students.

The role of colleges in addressing obesity among students

Obesity is a complex issue with a wide range of biological, psychosocial, environmental, and cultural influences. Colleges and universities have a unique opportunity to address obesity among students and promote healthy weight management. While obesity is a global problem, college students in the United States are among the most affected populations, with almost one in three college-aged Americans currently classified as obese. This issue has a significant impact on students' overall well-being and academic performance, and colleges have a responsibility to address it.

One of the main challenges contributing to obesity in college is the transition to independent living, where students are responsible for their own food choices, cooking, and budgeting. This, coupled with hectic schedules and social lives, often leads to unhealthy eating habits and increased consumption of fast food and alcohol. Colleges can play a crucial role in educating students about nutrition and helping them develop healthy eating habits. This includes providing a variety of healthy food options in cafeterias, offering obesity prevention education and weight-gain prevention programs that focus on nutrition, physical activity, and psychological coaching.

Another factor contributing to obesity in college is a lack of physical activity. Many students spend a significant amount of time sitting in classes, working on computers, or using social media, resulting in limited daily movement. Colleges can encourage students to be more active by providing access to recreational facilities and gyms, as well as promoting walking and cycling on campus.

To effectively address obesity among students, colleges should consider the following strategies:

• Provide a variety of healthy food options in cafeterias and dorms, including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean proteins.
• Offer obesity prevention education and weight-gain prevention programs that focus on nutrition, physical activity, and psychological coaching.
• Include financial wellness and health wellness topics during student orientations and well-being visits.
• Analyze student demographics and cater menus to changing needs, especially for diverse populations.
• Label foods with colour-coded stickers to indicate healthy options and limit consumption of unhealthy foods.
• Partner with local grocery stores and farmers' markets to offer affordable, healthy food options to students.
• Educate students about the causes of obesity and the importance of building healthy habits, starting at a young age.

By implementing these strategies, colleges can play a proactive role in addressing obesity among students and promoting healthy weight management. This will not only improve students' overall well-being but also enhance their academic performance and future health outcomes.

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