The effect of acculturation stress in dietary choice and physical activity in international students

By

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

No words can express my appreciation and gratitude to my research advisor _______ through the course of this research, Professor _____has taught me numerous values that extend well beyond the realm of _________ (Your Subject Name). His emphasis on dedication to work and his valuable and practical insights of life are some of the major highlights of my education at The University _________. To Professor _____, I say with great respect, thank you very much.

ABSTRACT

Acculturation is inevitable in individual's life and the outcome could be life-long. Generally, the entire universe has experienced the waves of immigration, which in distinctive ways have influenced acculturation regarding the differences in the experiences encountered by the immigrants. Previous researchers had shown that acculturative stress could make a huge impact on different factors; however, there was a gap in the research, which had indicated that there was a need to discover a relationship between acculturative stress with dietary choice and physical activity. This dissertation had applied quantitative statistical analysis to determine the relationship between different variables in the research. The researcher applied t-test to test the hypothesis. The results had identified that with the passage of time, the acculturative stress reduces in the international students and the demographics of international students did not made any impact on the level of acculturative stress of the international students. Acculturative stress did not make any impact on the dietary choice and physical activity.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTII

ABSTRACTIII

LIST OF TABLESVII

LIST OF CHARTSVIII

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1

1.1 Theoritcal context1

1.2 Background of the study2

1.3 Introduction3

1.4 Evaluation of relevant studies5

1.5 Problem statement6

1.6 Aims of the study6

1.7 Variables of the research7

1.8 Rationale of the study7

1.9 Hypothesis7

1.9.1 Hypothesis 17

1.9.2 Hypothesis 28

1.9.3 Hypothesis 38

1.9.4 Hypothesis 48

1.9.5 Hypothesis 58

1.9.6 Hypothesis 68

1.10 Summary9

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW10

2.1 Acculturation10

2.2 Acculturation stress11

2.3 Psychological acculturative stress12

2.4 Dietary acculturation13

2.5 The impact of acculturation on health decision-making14

2.6 Variables influencing adjustment/acculturation stress15

2.6.1 Social support satisfaction15

2.6.2 Independent self-construal16

2.6.3 General self-efficacy16

2.7 Dietary intake and acculturation17

2.8 Summary20

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY21

3.1 Design21

3.1.1 Variables control in the research21

3.2 Participants of the research22

3.3 Material accumulation22

3.4 Procedure23

3.5 Summary24

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS, DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS25

4.1 Results25

4.1.1 Results for hypothesis 129

4.1.2 Results for hypothesis 230

4.1.3 Results for hypothesis 331

4.1.4 Results for hypothesis 432

4.1.5 Results for hypothesis 534

4.1.6 Results for hypothesis 635

4.2 Discussion of results35

4.3 Critical evaluation of the present study38

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS40

5.1 Limitations of the study40

5.2 Suggestions for future research40

5.3 Conclusions40

REFERENCES42

APPENDICES49

Appendix A: Cover Letter49

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS24

TABLE 2: T-TEST FOR HYPOTHESIS 128

TABLE 3: T-TEST FOR HYPOTHESIS 229

TABLE 4: T-TEST FOR HYPOTHESIS 330

TABLE 5: CORRELATIONS FOR FIRST YEAR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS31

TABLE 6: CORRELATIONS FOR THIRD YEAR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS32

TABLE 7: T-TEST FOR HYPOTHESIS 533

TABLE 8: T-TEST FOR HYPOTHESIS 634

LIST OF CHARTS

CHART 1: STRESS COMPARISON25

CHART 2: DEPRESSION COMPARISON26

CHART 3: PRE AND POST EXPERIENCE STRESS COMPARISON26

CHART 4: PEARSON CORRELATION BETWEEN ACCULTURATIVE STRESS AND OTHER VARIABLES IN FIRST YEAR STUDENTS27

CHART 5: PEARSON CORRELATION BETWEEN ACCULTURATIVE STRESS AND OTHER VARIABLES IN THIRD YEAR STUDENTS27

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

In the first chapter of this dissertation, this dissertation has situated the study in its ...