Impact of Social Media on Sports Student Health Behavior: A Survey-Based Analysis

Objectives: Over the last few years, social media platforms have become a norm especially among youth. The use of social media platforms is prevalent in China, therefore, presenting both opportunities as well as risks for changing the desired health behavior among sports students in particular. The purpose of this research is to assess the impact of social media on health behavior of sports students in terms of the frequency the students use social media, the type of content they are exposed to and their level of health awareness. Methods: A total of 500 sports students from various educational institutions of Beijing China were chosen as the respondents for this survey-based study. The data were collected by using convenience sampling technique which helped to select a wide variety of students involved in various sports disciplines. Data were then analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with IBM SPSS AMOS software. Results: The findings reveal that social media usage frequency positively impacts health awareness and sports student health behavior. Content type on social media significantly influences health awareness and sports student health behavior. Health awareness has a significant impact on sports student health behavior. The results also show that health awareness has positive and significant mediation effect on the relationship between social media usage frequency and sports student health behavior as well as between content type on social media and sports student health behavior. Conclusion: The study has important implications for educators, policymakers, and health professionals who seek to use social media for increasing health behavior of Chinese sports students.