Kontakt 2010, 12(4):414-424 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2010.055

Selected aspects of the quality of life of technical university studentsHealth and Social Sciences

Zdeněk Valjent^1,*, Libor Flemr²

¹ České vysoké učení technické v Praze, Ústav tělesné výchovy a sportu

² Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Fakulta tělesné výchovy a sportu, Psychosociální laboratoř

The authors implemented an empirical research with the use of a questionnaire examination. The research was performed in students who completed at least two years of the study, in May to June 2008. A pilot study including the reliability test was performed in 53 students; the main research group included 1361 students - 1053 boys and 308 girls. To reveal the importance of information communicated (Disman, 2006) the technique of qualitative research was also conclusively employed - several types of interviews.
A number of important findings were obtained in the study. In the determination of the satisfaction with the life, the university students admit the highest value in the indicator "satisfaction with friends and acquaintances", further highly estimated indicators being the satisfaction with "the family life", "the general health condition", "the success and respect of other people" and "the general quality of life". The lowest level was assigned to the satisfaction with "the free time".
In the determination of differences between boy and girl students of the Czech Technical Universities the authors obtained interesting findings. There was the largest difference in two indicators affecting one another: the satisfaction "with his/her partner" and "with his/her sexual life", where the problem is most likely to be the fact that nearly a half of boys still have not initiated any partnership. In contrast, in girls, there was a lower satisfaction with "their body weight", "with the body fitness" and "with the health condition".
In a comparison of results of university students with a sample of the Czech Republic population, in most indicators, there were more positive values in university students. The largest differences in favour of university students were found in the satisfaction "with their friends and acquaintances", "with the family life", "with the success and respect recognized by other people" and in "the satisfaction with the body weight". The sample of the Czech Republic population exerted higher values in the "satisfaction with the free time" and in the male category also in the "satisfaction with the partner" and in the satisfaction "with the sexual life".

Keywords: quality of life; satisfaction with life; students; technical university

Received: June 24, 2010; Accepted: November 5, 2010; Published: December 22, 2010  Show citation