Analysis of Obesity among Malaysian University Students: A Combination Study with the Application of Bayesian Structural Equation Modelling and Pearson Correlation

Abstract

In obesity modelling studies, researchers have been seeking to identify the effective indicators of obesity by using appropriate statistical or mathematical techniques. The main objective of the present study is addressed in three stages. First, a new framework for modelling obesity in university students is introduced. The second stage involves data analysis based on Bayesian Structural Equation Modelling (BSEM) for estimating the Body Mass Index (BMI) (representative of the obesity level) of students at three university levels: Bachelor, Master and PhD. In the third stage, the highest significant correlation is determined between the BMI and other variables in the research model that were found significant through the second phase. The data for this study were collected from students at selected Malaysian universities. The results indicate that unhealthy food intake (fast food and soft drinks), social media use and stress exhibit the highest weightage contributing to overweight and obesity issues for Malaysian university students.