Healthy Eating in College Students, Self-Schemas Essays

Healthy Eating in College Students, Self-Schemas Essays Healthy Eating in College Students, Self-Schemas Paper Healthy Eating in College Students, Self-Schemas Paper This study was among the first of its kind.   It aimed to test whether college students who had ‘self-schemas’ for healthy eating actually consumed a healthier diet than those who did not. First, it set up what a ‘self-schema’ is and why it is important to the study, then it assessed nutrition diaries, and finally, evaluated the results.   The results have proven having a self-schema is a key point towards behavior. Students in this study who had a self-schema about healthy eating were likely to have a better diet.   Researchers found that those with a healthy eating schema consumed more fiber and less total and saturated fat, but found no significant different in cholesterol or sugar intake.   In general, those with a health eating schema had a healthier diet.   What this means is that the students’ beliefs significantly affected their behavior. This study does have its limitations.   The sample size was only 49 participants, all college-age, and all female.   The researchers have suggested that instead of a healthy-eating schema, what they have actually encountered was a dieting-schema. College-aged females are frequently concerned with weight.   Many are on their own for the first time, many are dating, and many are concerned about their appearance.   For this reason, the ‘healthy eating’ the researchers are seeing could be simply an attempt to control one’s weight and therefore, appearance. To get around this particular problem, researchers would have to repeat the study with a larger sample size that included males, and people of different ages.   It is impossible, from the data given, to say that it is exactly the healthy eating schema that is causing the behavior. Researchers did note, however, that there are no significant differences in BMI or total calorie intake, leading them to believe that dieting may not be the schema at work.   Unless many other variables were noted – such as intake of vitamins and minerals, and more – and these variables were noted over a longer period of time, it is impossible to say which schema is really at work.