Socio-economic Status as Correlate of Health Status of Undergraduates in Public Universities, Rivers State, Nigeria

This study examined socio-economic status as correlate of health status of undergraduate students in public universities, Rivers State. A descriptive research design was adopted with a population which consisted of 64,691 undergraduates in public universities, Rivers State, Nigeria. A sample size of 1,194 was selected using a multi-stage sampling procedure. The data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.82. Data analysis was carried out using regression statistics at 0.05 alpha level. The result indicated that a significant positive relationship was found between parent financial status (monthly income) and mental health status (r = 0.13, R2 = 0.019, p<0.05), physical (r = 0.82, R2 = 0.750, p<0.05) and social health status (r = 0.86, R2 = 0.75, p<0.05). Furthermore, a significant positive relationship was found between parent employment status and mental health status (r = 0.94, R2 = 0.883, p<0.05), physical health status (r = 0.93, R2 = 0.866, p<0.05) and social health status (r = 0.91, R2 = 0.825, p<0.05). It was concluded that socio-economic status of parents such as monthly income, and employment status of parents contributed less than 50% to health status of undergraduates in public universities in Rivers State. It was recommended that, the government should establish poverty alleviation programmes for parents/guardians whose children/wards are in university to help any financial stress which may contribute or influence the health status of the students.