Body Image, Physical Activity, Nutrition Knowledge, and Nutritional

Status Among Boarding and Non-Boarding Students

Kartika Pibriyanti

, Firda Sabilatun Nabilah

, Hafidhotun Nabawiyah

Lulu’ Luthfiya

and Susi Nurohmi

Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universitas Darussalam Gontor, Ponorogo, Indonesia

Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Nutrition, University of Muhammadiyah Kudus, Kudus, Indonesia

Keywords: Boarding School, Body Image, Physical Activity, Nutrition Knowledge.

Abstract: Introduction: Adolescence is a critical period vulnerable to nutritional problems. The environment in which

adolescents live can significantly impact various aspects such as body image, lifestyle, and nutritional status.

This study aimed to analyze differences of subject characteristics in the forms of body image, physical activity

level, nutritional knowledge and nutritional status in two different environment (boarding school and non-

boarding school). Methods: A cross-sectional design was employed for this study, involving a total of 120

adolescent girls, divided equally into two groups (boarding school and non-boarding school), with each group

comprising 60 subjects. Eligible subjects were female students aged 16 to 18 years, in good health, and

willingly participating in the study. Data analysis used Independent Sample T Test or Mann-Whitney test.

Results: The majority of subjects were 16 years old. Both the boarding school group (60.00%) and the non-

boarding school group (51.67%) exhibited negative body image among most subjects. In the boarding school

group, 85.00% of subjects demonstrated a moderate level of physical activity, while in the non-boarding

school group, 58.33% of subjects reported engaging in a heavy level of physical activity. Moreover, a

significant proportion of subjects in both the boarding school group (73.33%) and the non-boarding school

group (60.00%) possessed low nutritional knowledge. The analysis comparing the two groups indicated a

significant difference in variables of physical activity and nutritional knowledge (p-value <0.05). Conclusion:

The level of physical activity and nutritional knowledge in adolescent girls living in boarding schools and

non-boarding schools showed significant differences. However, no significant differences were observed in

terms of body image and nutritional status between the two groups. Consequently, there is a compelling need

for curricular integration focusing on balanced nutrition knowledge and promoting increased physical activity

within the school environment.

1 INTRODUCTION

Adolescence is one of the vulnerable periods for

nutrition issues (E. R. Damayanti, 2022). According

to Indonesia Basic Health Survey (2018),

malnutrition among adolescents aged 16-18 years in

Indonesia has increased, with the prevalence of

overweight in 2013 being 7.3% and increased to

13.5% in 2018 (Kemenkes RI, 2018). East Java was

one of the provinces having overweight problems in

the age group of 16-18 years old. The prevalence of

overweight in the age group 16-18 years is above the

national trend, with a prevalence of 21.2%

(Kemenkes RI, 2017)

Nutrition issues among adolescents were

currently found at school or boarding school. Based

on the research among Darussalam Islamic Boarding

School students staying in boarding school, the

proportion of overweight was found to be 14% (A. Y.

Damayanti, 2020). Meanwhile, research among

adolescents in the Public Junior High school of

Wungu Madiun in 2019 had a prevalence of 8.3% in

the category of overweight (Hamdani, 2019). The

Nutritional status of adolescence was the result of

eating patterns and behaviors which was influenced

by many factors, including peer influences, parental

modeling, food availability, food preferences, cost,

convenience, personal and cultural beliefs, mass

media, and body image (Das et al., 2017)

There are many changes during puberty, both

physically and psychologically, but physical changes

are more noticeable. As a result, adolescents pay

more attention to their body shape and body image

(Normate et al., 2017). Adolescents living in boarding

Pibriyanti, K., Nabilah, F. S., Nabawiyah, H., Luthﬁya, L. and Nurohmi, S.

Body Image, Physical Activity, Nutrition Knowledge, and Nutritional Status Among Boarding and Non-Boarding Students.

DOI: 10.5220/0012902300004564

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Social Determinants of Health (ICSDH 2023), pages 149-154

ISBN: 978-989-758-727-6; ISSN: 2975-8297

149

school will often interact with their peers, so they tend

to compare themselves with their peers. Those

staying with parents but lacking in caregiving and

support are insecure regarding their body image

(Bearman et al., 2006).

Physical activity generally results in increasing

energy and has a positive effect on the degree of

human health (Singh et al., 2014). Adolescents living

at home and boarding school have different activities.

Those living at home have more flexible activities

and conditional rules. While those living in boarding

school have scheduled activities and rules that should

be followed. Physical activity among adolescents has

now decreased (Suntiah et al., 2020). They mostly

enjoy accessing the internet and are physically

inactive (Rukmana et al., 2021). The environment can

affect how a person gets information. Individuals who

live in dormitories or boarding schools get more

information from the library that has been provided.

Meanwhile, individuals who live at home can access

the internet flexibly because there are no regulatory

restrictions that prohibit the use of the internet

(Juliana, 2019). Thus, this study aimed to analyze

differences in subject characteristics in the forms of

body image, physical activity level, nutritional

knowledge and nutritional status in two different

environments (boarding school and non-boarding

school).

2 METHOD

A cross-sectional study was conducted with senior

high school girl students in grades 10, 11, and 12 from

Pondok Pesantren Miftahul Jannah for boarding

students and SMK Muhammadiyah 2 Ngawi for non-

boarding students. Convenience sampling was used

in this research with inclusion criteria from healthy

students aged 16-18 years old while exclusion criteria

were unhealthy students and those who did not have

any consent to participate. Total students

participating were 120 (60 students from boarding

school and 60 students from non-boarding school).

Body image was measured by completing the

Body Appreciation Scale (BAS) Questionnaire (Ko et

al., 2012) containing 10 questions and scoring 5

levels of answers (never, rarely, sometimes, often,

always). Body image scoring level was classified as

positive (BAS hypothetical score ≥46) and negative

(BAS hypothetical score <46). Physical activity level

was measured by answering the International

Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) consisting of

7 questions about the time spent being physically

active in the last 7 days (Edward MK & Loprinzi PD,

2019). Physical activity levels are classified as low

(≤600 MET minutes/week), moderate (>600-≤3000

MET minutes/week), and heavy (>3000 MET

minutes/week). Measurement of nutrition knowledge

was conducted by answering multiple-choice

questions that had been validated. Total of 20

questions had been tested and there were 5 invalid

questions. The remaining 15 questions were tested for

reliability and showed Cronbach’s alpha value of

0.929. Nutrition knowledge is classified as low

(<60%), moderate (60-80%) and high (>80%)

(Khomsan A, 2022). Assessment of nutrition status

was using measurements of z-score (BMI for age)

classified as malnutrition (<-3SD), underweight (-

3SD to <-2SD), normal (-2SD to +1SD), overweight

(+1SD to +2SD), and obese (>+2SD) (Kemenkes RI,

2020).

Data analysis was carried out to determine the

means, standard deviations, and categorical data

(frequency and percentage) distribution of each

variable in each group. Comparative analysis was

used to find the difference between the two

independent groups. Independent Sample T Test was

used for normal data distribution while Mann

Whitney was used conditionally if the Independent

Sample T Test didn’t fit for variable because the data

was not normally distributed.

3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The majority of respondents aged 16 years old were

both boarding students (73.3%) and non-boarding

students (46.7%). The average non-boarding

students’ allowance was Rp 150000-Rp 300000 per

month (70%) while boarding students’ is Rp 150000

to Rp 500000 per month. The majority of father’s

occupation of boarding students was self-employed

(73.3%) while father’s occupation of non-boarding

students is farmer (56.7%). Most of the mother’s

occupation was a housewife in both groups. The

majority of father’s education of boarding students is

junior high school (38.3%) while the father’s

education of non-boarding students is elementary

school (53.3%). Most of the mother’s education of

both students is junior high school.

ICSDH 2023 - The International Conference on Social Determinants of Health

150

Table 1: General characteristics of respondents.

Characteristic

n (%)

Boarding

Students

Non

Boarding

students

Age (years old)

16 44(73.3) 28(46.7)

17 11(18.3) 19(31.7)

18 5(8.3) 13(21.7)

Allowance (IDR)

150000-300000 27(45.0) 42(70.0)

400000-500000 27(45.0) 13(21.7)

600000->1000000 6(10.0) 5(8.3)

Father's occupation

Farmer 15(25.0) 34(56.7)

Self-employed 44(73.3) 26(43.3)

Mother’s occupation

Farmer 12(20.0) 16(26.7)

Housewife 35(58.3) 33(55.0)

Self-employed 8(13.3) 11(18.3)

Father's education

Elementary school 15(25.0) 32(53.3)

Junior high school 23(38.3) 19(31.7)

Senior high school 22(36.7) 9(15.0)

Mother’s education

Elementary school 1(1.7) 8(13.3)

Junior high school 32(53.3) 32(53.3)

Senior high school 27(45.0) 20(33.3)

Table 2 showed that most adolescent girls in both

groups had a negative body image. Early to late teens

had decreased satisfaction with self-image

confidence. This was because adolescents would

often compare themselves with other people's

personalities (Novida, 2021). This was in contrast to

the research of Yusintha (2018) stated that adolescent

girls had more positive body image (80.6%)

compared to negative body image (19.4%) (Yusintha

& Adriyanto, 2018). This difference could be caused

by the influence of peer groups and environment with

high interaction through words, norms, and criticism

of the individual. The highest percentage of physical

activity among boarding students was moderate

physical activity (85.0%) while non-boarding school

students was heavy (58.33%). Non-boarding students

tend to have a heavy level of physical activity. The

physical activity of non-boarding students was more

flexible than boarding students due to scheduled

activity at boarding school. Muliyati et al. (2019)

stated that the physical activity of adolescents tend to

be light because almost all activity done was learning

at school. There were several factors Influencing

physical activity such as physiological,

environmental, social and demographic factors

(Muliyati, Hepti ; Ahmil ; Mandola, 2019).

Table 2: Frequency distribution of categorical variables.

Variables

n (%)

Boarding

Students

Non-Boarding

Students

Body Image

Negative 36 (60.00) 31 (51.67)

Positive 24 (40.00) 29 (48.33)

Physical activity

Moderate 54 (90.00) 25 (41.67)

Heavy 6 (10.00) 35 (58.33)

Nutritional knowledge

Low 44 (73.33) 36 (60.00)

Moderate 16 (26.67) 22 (36.67)

High 0 (0.00) 2 (3.33)

Nutritional status

Underweight 0 (0.00) 3 (5.00)

Normal 47 (78.33) 44 (73.33)

Overweight 11 (18.33) 7 (11.67)

Obese 2 (3.34) 6 (10.00)

The majority of adolescents in both groups had

low level of nutritional knowledge. This is different

from the research of Nurwijayanti et al. (2019) and

Ningrum et al. (2022) that showed a good level of

nutritional knowledge (Nurwijayanti et al., 2019)

(Ningrum et al., 2023) . These differences might be

caused by educational background, opportunities and

access to nutrition information (Ningrum et al.,

2023). 18.33% of respondents in boarding school

were overweight. The percentage of obese

respondents in non-boarding (10.00%) school was

more than boarding schools (3.34%). More than 70%

of respondents in both groups had normal nutritional

status. This finding was consistent with Jayanti and

Novananda (2017) who found most adolescents had

good nutritional status (Dwi Jayanti & Elsa

Novananda, 2019).The result of this study was no

significant difference in body image between

boarding school and non-boarding school students

with p-value = 0.419 (>0.05). Most of the subjects

had negative body image. This finding was in line

Body Image, Physical Activity, Nutrition Knowledge, and Nutritional Status Among Boarding and Non-Boarding Students

151

with the research of Fadillah (2022) which stated that

there were no significant difference in the body image

of adolescents. The majority of students had negative

body image (Fadillah, 2022). On the other hand, the

research of Bimantara et al. (2019) showed that most

adolescent students had positive body image

(Muhammad Dimas Bimantara et al., 2019). This

negative body image of some students was influenced

by various factors such as mass media, education

level, and family. Most of them considered their

bodies are too thin compared to the body shape they

wanted, and some of them considered their body are

too fat. This situation then caused the majority of

respondents to have a negative body image (Fadillah,

2022).

Table 3: The average and standard deviation of variables.

Variables

Mean ± SD

value

Boarding

School

Non-Boarding

School

Body image

39.18±6.82 40.17±6.46

0.419

Physical

activity

level

1766.40±

831.40

3229.33±798.46

0.000*

Nutritional

knowledge

48.82±9.98 52.87±11.79

0.048*

Nutritional

status

22.36±3.24 22.02±4.93

0.134

) Independent sample t test;

) Mann Whitney; *)

Significantly different with 95% confidence level

There was a significant difference in physical

activity levels in both groups with p-value = 0.048

(<0.05). The physical activity level of boarding

students was lower than non-boarding students. This

was in line with previous research by Firmansyah et

al. (2020) which stated that the majority students in

boarding schools had low level of physical activity

(Firmansyah et al., 2022). Increasing physical activity

by additional programs conducted by school

management is needed so that schools can provide

students for example with 60 minutes or more of

vigorous- or moderate-intensity physical activity per

day. These were neither equivalent to nor a

replacement for physical education, and both could

impact meaningfully the development of healthy,

active students (Kohl HW et al., 2013)

The results of this study showed that nutritional

knowledge was significantly different between

boarding school students and non-boarding school

students (p-value<0.05). Although both groups were

in the moderate category of nutritional knowledge,

the non-boarding school group had a higher value

than the boarding school group. This finding was

aligned with previous research showing that 99% of

students had insufficient nutritional knowledge

(Indriasari et al., 2020). The study by Rimbawan et

al. (2023) suggested that intervention in diet and

education could effectively improve nutrition

knowledge, attitudes, and practices (Rimbawan et al.,

2023).

The average BMI for age was normal. Nutritional

status in both groups showed no significant

difference. There were 5% underweight students in

the non-boarding school group while more than 20%

overweight and obese in both groups. This was in line

with some research that there were no significant

differences in nutritional status among respondents

staying at boarding school or non-boarding school

(Alfitasari et al., 2019)(Fitri et al., 2021).

This study has limitations in terms of intake or

eating habits of adolescents. Dietary intake or eating

habits are factors that directly affect nutritional status

of adolescents. So that, there is a need for research

that examines how dietary intake or eating habits and

other variables are related to nutritional status.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The level of physical activity and nutritional

knowledge in adolescent girls living in boarding

school and non-boarding school showed significant

differences. The physical activity level of boarding

students was lower than the non-boarding students.

Both groups were in the moderate category of

nutritional knowledge, but the non-boarding school

group had a higher value than the boarding school

group. No significant differences were found in body

image and nutritional status between the two groups.

Most of the subjects had negative body image and the

average nutritional status using an indicator of BMI

for age was normal. From the results of this study,

there is a need for curriculum integration related to

balanced nutrition knowledge and increased physical

activity at school.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The realization of this proceeding's success is

attributed to the collaborative endeavors of diverse

stakeholders. I extend sincere appreciation to the

organizing committee, esteemed speakers, and

presenters for their invaluable contributions.

Furthermore, I acknowledge the crucial role of the

reviewers, editorial team, and active participants in

ICSDH 2023 - The International Conference on Social Determinants of Health

152

ensuring the high caliber of the content. Gratitude is

also extended to our esteemed sponsors and partners,

whose generous support was instrumental in the

event's accomplishment. Their commitment and

involvement are deeply valued and acknowledged.

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