Study on the level of health in science students at the university of Extremadura (Spain)

Abstract

Within positive psychology, one of the research topics is the exploration of people’s well-being and for this, studies have been conducted on the strengths and predictive variables of happiness, including perceived health. University students face changes in their lives and changes in new roles directed towards their future, as well as new expectations and horizons. The present work has as objective to know the perceived health in the students of sciences of the University of Extremadura. Perceived health is considered an indicator of general health, it is identified with a part of psychological well-being, a possible indicator of a positive psychological adaptation to major changes. The study of these variables will not allow to know the quality of life related to the performance of their functions as students and their relationships with both the university and its student environment. The health variable and its relationship with gender, age and degree have been analyzed. The sample is made up of 503 science students from the University of Extremadura. The instrument used has been the Goldberg General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) This scale reflects questions related to the absence or presence of symptoms of psychological distress such as lack of sleep, mood alterations, etc. The results indicate that men have a higher perception of health than women, that there is no indirect relationship between the age of the students and their level of health, nor are there differences in the health of the students depending on their degree.