Well-being and health perception of university students in portugal: The influence of parental support and love relationship

Abstract

Background: The mental health of university students has been the subject of great attention from scientific investigations, not only to provide contextualised information, but additionally since high levels of well-being predicted a quality education. This study aims to evaluate the perception of well-being and health of university students, exploring the psychometric properties of the Well-being and Health Perception Scale (WbHPS) and analysing the influence of sociodemographic variables. Participants and Procedure: A questionnaire was applied to a representative sample of 840 university students in Portugal stratified by year of academic attendance and scientific area of study. The WbHPS consists of 5 items measured on a 5-point Likert scale. We considered as explanatory variables the year of study and scientific area, sex, age, love relationship, professional situation and BMI. Results: The WbHPS showed good psychometric properties, indicating the presence of an explanatory factor of 58.45% of variance and a good internal consistency (α = .81). The obtained results identified WbHPS as being independently associated with being in a love relationship, having a normal weight and not being displaced after starting at university. Conclusions: It is necessary to (re)think about disease prevention and health promotion actions in higher education, with psychosocial interventions that truly reflect on the well-being and health of university students.