naa a22 4500 510742122 CHVBK 20180411083031.0 cr unu---uuuuu 180411e20131201xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s11482-012-9203-9 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s11482-012-9203-9 Sociodemographic and Lifestyle Correlates of Health-Related Quality of Life in Croatian University Students [Elektronische Daten] [Marija Rakovac, Zeljko Pedisic, Shelly Pranic, Zrinka Greblo, Dinko Hodak] The purpose of this study was to assess the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in a sample of Croatian university students and to determine its association with sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics. The study was conducted on a random sample of 1750 students in Zagreb, Croatia. We used the 12-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12v2) and separate questions on sex, age, body mass index (BMI), settlement size, disposable income, cigarette consumption, alcohol consumption, and exercise frequency. The HRQoL scale on which Croatian students scored the highest was Physical Functioning. High mean scores were also found for other physical health measures, while the scores in mental health scales were somewhat lower. Male students scored significantly higher than females on all SF-12 scales (p < 0.05). The regression analysis showed that Physical Component Summary score (PCS) is negatively related to BMI (partial r = −0.09) and cigarette consumption (partial r = −0.06), and positively related to alcohol consumption and exercise frequency (partial r = 0.08, for both), while Mental Component Summary score (MSC) is positively related to BMI (partial r = 0.07) and exercise frequency (partial r = 0.10). Although HRQoL-scores for the Croatian students were higher than in the general population of Croatia and student populations in several other countries, there is still room for improvement, especially in the mental health aspect. In general, HRQoL was found to be significantly lower among females and smokers, but positively related with exercise frequency. In order to improve students' HRQoL, university authorities should consider initiating health-promotion programs with emphasis on females, smokers and non-exercisers. Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and The International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS), 2012 Self-perceived health nationallicence Subjective health nationallicence College nationallicence Physical activity nationallicence Rakovac Marija Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia aut Pedisic Zeljko Institute of Sport Science, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz, Mozartgasse 14, 8010, Graz, Austria aut Pranic Shelly School of Medicine, University of Split, Split, Croatia aut Greblo Zrinka Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia aut Hodak Dinko Zagreb Student Centre, Zagreb, Croatia aut Applied Research in Quality of Life Springer Netherlands 8/4(2013-12-01), 493-509 1871-2584 8:4<493 2013 8 11482 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-012-9203-9 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-012-9203-9 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Rakovac Marija Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pedisic Zeljko Institute of Sport Science, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz, Mozartgasse 14, 8010, Graz, Austria aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pranic Shelly School of Medicine, University of Split, Split, Croatia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Greblo Zrinka Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hodak Dinko Zagreb Student Centre, Zagreb, Croatia aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Applied Research in Quality of Life Springer Netherlands 8/4(2013-12-01), 493-509 1871-2584 8:4<493 2013 8 11482 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer