The Differentiating Effect of Family Socioeconomic Status on College Students' Healthy Lifestyles: The Mediating Role of Health Literacy

Changfeng  Xue; Ping Li

doi:10.71204/9j001120

Authors

Changfeng Xue Jinggangshan University Author
Ping Li Nanchang Institute of Technology Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.71204/9j001120

Keywords:

Healthy Lifestyle, Family Socioeconomic Status, Health Literacy, College Students, Mediation

Abstract

To investigate the influence pathway of family socioeconomic status (SES) on college students’ healthy lifestyles and to examine the mediating mechanism of health literacy in this relationship. A convenience sampling method was used to recruit 1,050 college students from 9 universities in central and western China as research subjects; A cross-sectional survey was conducted using standardized scales, including the Family Socioeconomic Status Scale, the Health Literacy Rapid Assessment Questionnaire (HLRAQ), and the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Scale II (HPLP-II); Stratified stepwise regression analysis was used, and based on Hayes' (2017) Process macro Model 4, the bias-corrected Bootstrap method (repeated sampling 5,000 times) was performed in SPSS22.0 to test the mediating effect and confidence intervals of health literacy. Pearson correlation analysis revealed varying associations between dimensions of family SES, healthy lifestyle, and health literacy, with differences in both direction and magnitude: Family economic status was significantly positively correlated with both healthy lifestyle (r = 0.091, p < 0.05) and health literacy (r = 0.088, p < 0.05); Family social status was significantly negatively correlated with healthy lifestyle (r = -0.113, p < 0.05) and health literacy (r = -0.065, p < 0.05). Health literacy was strongly positively correlated with a healthy lifestyle (r = 0.259, p < 0.001). The mediating effect test further indicated that health literacy played a partial mediating role between family economic status and healthy lifestyle, with an indirect effect β=0.022 (SE=0.0028,95% CI [0.006, 0.041]), accounting for 24.18% of the total effect; It also played a partial mediating role between family social status and healthy lifestyle, with an indirect effect β= -0.016 (SE=0.0082,95% CI [-0.0330, -0.0005]), accounting for 14.58% of the total effect. The family SES is not a single construct, and its economic dimension and social dimension have independent effects on the healthy lifestyle of college students in opposite directions and with different intensities; Health literacy is a key psychological mediating variable that links family background to individual health behavior. This study systematically reveals for the first time the differentiated pathways of SES multi-dimensionality in the formation of health behaviors, providing high-quality empirical evidence and theoretical support for universities to implement stratified, classified, targeted and precise health literacy improvement and health behavior intervention.

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