Exploring the relationship between eating habits and academic performance among university students with disabilities: Evidences from Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Recently, there has been growing interest in dietary habits and behaviors owing to their influence on health and health-related aspects, such as cognition and learning. Cognition is fundamental to the learning process, and as such, students’ performance in school is highly dependent on how well they can think. Thus, the purpose of this study is to assess and describe the four types of eating behaviors—fuel eating, fun eating, fog eating, and storm eating—and how they affect the academic performance of students with disabilities in Saudi Arabia. Out of 406 cases approached, 399 completed the survey, and these were analyzed. Microsoft Excel 2010 and SPSS 24 were used to perform descriptive and demographic data analyses, then the hypotheses were tested and relationships among the study variables were examined using PLS-SEM version 4.1.0.6 Structural Equation Modeling. The analysis indicated that fuel eating habits (FLEH) and fun eating habits (FNEH) positively and significantly contributed to the academic achievement (AC) of students with disabilities in Saudi Arabia: 0.381 (Std. Beta = 0.534, p = 0.000) and 0.071 (Std. Beta = 0.263, p = 0.000), respectively, thus confirming that H1 and H2 were supported.
On the other hand, fog eating habits (FGEH) and storm eating habits (SEH) have shown no significant impact on academic performance (FGEH: effect size = 0.000, Std. Beta = 0.018, p = 0.689; SEH: effect size = 0.004, Std. Beta = 0.065, p = 0.252), leading to H3 and H4’s rejections. This highlights the impact of eating habits on success and general health. As a result, Saudi Arabian higher education institutions need to offer specific nutrition educational and health promotion activities to meet the health and nutrition needs of students with disabilities and to create a campus supporting their health.