Health Behaviors among Male and Female University Students in Cambodia: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

Students go through a transition when they enter university, which involves major individual and contextual changes in every domain of life that may lead to several behavioral and health problems. This study examined a wide range of health behaviors and practices among 1,359 male and female students recruited from two public universities in Cambodia using a multistage cluster sampling method. Health-related information in different domains were collected using a structured questionnaire. We compared the variables in male and female students. Of the total, 50.8% were male and the mean age was 21.3 (SD = 2.3) years. The majority (79.5%) reported not having any vigorous-intensity activities, 25.9% not having moderate-intensity activities, and 33.5% not having walked continuously for 10 min over the last week. More than one-third (38.3%) reported drinking alcohol, 1.1% smoking tobacco, and 0.4% using an illicit drug in the past 12 months. About one in ten (10.6%) reported having sexual intercourse; of whom, 42.4% reported not using a condom in the last intercourse, and the mean number of sexual partners was 2.1 (SD = 2.4) in the past 12 months. Only 7.1% reported having been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the past 12 months; of whom, 60% sought for treatment for the most recent STI. About one-third (33.6%) reported eating fast food at least once over the last week. More than half (55.6%) had one to two servings of fruits or vegetables daily, and 9.9% did not eat any fruits or vegetables over the last week. Gender differences were observed in physical activities, dietary intakes, cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, and sexual behaviors. Findings from this study indicate that public health and education policies should promote healthy behaviors among university students. The interventions may take advantage of and expand upon the positive health behaviors and consider gender differences.

Social and behavioural factors associated with depressive symptoms among university students in Cambodia: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore social and behavioural factors associated with depressive symptoms among university students in Cambodia. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTINGS: Two public universities-one in the capital city of Phnom Penh and another in Battambang provincial town. PARTICIPANTS: This study included 1359 students randomly selected from all departments in the two universities using a multistage cluster sampling method for a self-administered questionnaire survey in 2015. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Depressive symptoms measured by using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale. All measures in the study were self-reported. RESULTS: The proportion of students with depressive symptoms and severe depressive symptoms were 50.6% and 19.6%, respectively. After adjustment in multivariate logistic regression analysis, depressive symptoms remained significantly associated with poor academic performance (adjusted OR (AOR)=7.31, 95% CI 2.24 to 23.86), higher consumption of unhealthy food (AOR=1.72, 95% CI 1.08 to 2.76), a negative self-perception about body shape (AOR=0.54, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.99) and general health status (AOR=2.99, 95% CI 1.28 to 7.00), and limited physical activeness (AOR=0.30, 95% CI 0.16 to 0.58). Depressive symptoms also remained significantly associated with adverse childhood experiences including physical violence (AOR=1.39, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.86), psychological abuse (AOR=1.82, 95% CI 1.37 to 2.42) and lack of general and medical care (AOR=0.51, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.86) by family during childhood. CONCLUSIONS: The key factors associated with depressive symptoms were family related and individual behaviours and attitudes. Thus, efforts should be invested in comprehensive screening and intervention programmes to diagnose those vulnerable students early, offer immediate treatment and cater appropriate support.