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Table 8 Social and Cultural Environment all students (N = 14,880) and by Local (N = 9,398) & International students (N = 5,482)

From: Towards a health promoting university: descriptive findings on health, wellbeing and academic performance amongst university students in Australia

 

Total

Local

International

n

%

Wt %

n

%

Wt %

n

%

Wt %

Current living arrangements

 Renting flat, apartment or house

8001

54.2

54.5

3385

36.3

36.3

4616

85.1

85.2

 With parents/relatives, rent-free

4220

28.6

28.5

4044

43.4

43.5

176

3.2

3.2

 University residence/college

996

6.8

6.7

611

6.6

6.5

385

7.1

7.1

 Own/mortgaged home

1065

7.2

7.1

921

9.9

9.8

144

2.7

2.7

 Boarding including paying rent to parents/relatives

354

2.4

2.4

302

3.2

3.3

52

1.0

0.9

 Other

116

0.8

0.8

65

0.7

0.7

51

0.9

0.9

Current relationship status

 Single

8011

54.3

54.4

4775

51.2

51.3

3236

59.7

59.6

 Dating

4479

30.4

30.2

2976

31.9

31.9

1503

27.7

27.5

 Married/de facto

2171

14.7

14.8

1513

16.2

16.2

658

12.1

12.4

 Other (Engaged, divorced, separated, widowed, undefined)

86

0.6

0.6

60

0.6

0.6

26

0.5

0.5

Involved in organised groups at university or elsewherea

12429

  

7990

  

4439

  

  Social club or university group

3432

27.6

27.6

2121

26.5

26.6

1311

29.5

29.4

  Sport or physical recreation group

2967

23.9

24.6

2229

27.9

28.7

738

16.6

17.4

  Special interest/hobby group including online groups

1658

13.3

13.5

1150

14.4

14.6

508

11.4

11.4

Average number of hours spent on social media on typical day across past 2 weeks

 

  None

667

5.4

5.6

496

6.2

6.4

171

3.8

4.1

  1—2 h

6525

52.4

52.8

4534

56.7

57.0

1991

44.7

45.6

  3—5 h

4058

32.6

32.0

2394

29.9

29.5

1664

37.4

36.5

  6 or more hours

1202

9.7

9.5

576

7.2

7.1

626

14.1

13.8

Extent social media currently creates stress

  Not at all

3315

26.6

27.3

2126

26.6

27.3

1189

26.7

27.4

  A little

4078

32.7

32.6

2554

31.9

31.8

1524

34.2

34.0

  Somewhat

3271

26.3

25.9

2073

25.9

25.6

1198

26.9

26.5

  A lot

1431

11.5

11.4

973

12.2

12.0

458

10.3

10.2

  A great deal

357

2.9

2.8

274

3.4

3.4

83

1.9

1.8

Experienced any of the following while at Universityb

12438

  

7993

  

4445

  

 Loneliness

5319

42.8

42.4

3453

43.2

42.9

1866

42.0

41.5

 Family difficulties

3077

24.7

24.1

2370

29.7

28.9

707

15.9

15.7

 Travelling/commuting difficulties

2878

23.1

22.8

2395

30.0

29.6

483

10.9

11.0

 Relationship issues

2704

21.7

21.7

1823

22.8

22.7

881

19.8

19.9

 Homesickness issues

1964

15.8

15.4

850

10.6

10.3

1114

25.1

24.3

 Accommodation/living arrangements

1809

14.5

14.4

1052

13.2

12.9

757

17.0

17.1

 

Mean

SD

Wt Mean

Mean

SD

Wt Mean

Mean

SD

Wt Mean

Social support (MOS-SSS-6)c

22.56

6.39

22.45

24.17

5.55

24.08

19.67

6.78

19.59

Acculturative stress (SAFE)d

18.89

13.22

18.98

15.36

12.18

15.45

25.08

12.70

25.04

  1. aActivities are not mutually exclusive
  2. bExperiences are not mutually exclusive
  3. cSocial support (MOS-SSS-6) [60] measured using the Medical Outcomes Study-Social Support Survey. Scores range from 6 to 30 with higher scores indicating greater perceived social support; Total students with a response = 12,478; 8,014 Local students and 4,464 International students)
  4. dAcculturative stress is measured using the Social, Attitudinal, Familial and Environmental Acculturative Stress Scale (SAFE) scale [57], where higher scores are indicative of higher degrees of stress. Total students with a response = 13,443; 8,563 Local students and 4,880 International students
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BMC Public Health

ISSN: 1471-2458

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