Family cohesion and a father's warmth are related to the positive lifestyles of female university students

Abstract

One of the main strategies that healthy universities implement among their students is that of promoting healthy lifestyles. However, behind these healthy lifestyles, there may be some aspects related to family functioning that favour or limit its implementation. Consequently, the objective of this study is to establish whether there is a relationship between lifestyles and family cohesion, family ethnic socialization and the affective behaviour of the father and the mother. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a representative sample of 159 female university students from an indigenous area of Oaxaca, Mexico. The Healthy Lifestyle Scale for University Students, the Self-Assessment Scale of Affective Behaviour (with regard to the father and the mother) and the Family Cohesion Scale were used. Family ethnic socialization revealed a significant interrelationship with lifestyles in all ethnic groups. However, these scores were higher in the indigenous groups. Although the moderate hostility from the father did not show any relationship with lifestyles in either ethnic group, the scores for hostility from the father were higher in indigenous groups than in the mestizo group. A multivariate analysis confirmed better lifestyles when better family cohesion and greater warmth of the father were observed.