Self-rated health, traumatic experiences and SAS students satisfaction with life

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether there is a correlation between early traumatic experiences self-rated health and satisfaction with life. DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY: A 147-item close-ended self-administered questionnaire was completed by 52% of students enrolled in the School of Arts and Science. The study forms part of a health behavior survey among university students from low and middle income countries. RESULTS: Students were moderate in rating their health with almost 75% rating their health between fair and good. They were generally dissatisfied with their lives (82.4%) with 58.7% being moderately dissatisfied and 23.7% being very dissatisfied. Twenty-four percent of students reported experiencing serious injuries. Of those reporting traumatic experiences, 12.4% reported to have been hit by a sex partner; 10.6% reported to have been forced to have sex; 10% reported to have been physically abused as a child and 7.5% reported to have been sexually abused as a child. Satisfaction with life correlated with being physically abused as a child and being hit by a sex partner. Self-rated health correlated with being physically abused as a child and sexually abused as a child. CONCLUSION: Self-rated health and satisfaction with life provide a good overall assessment of an individualAEs health and wellbeing. Further research is needed to understand the basis for the lack of satisfaction with life.