Postural Habits and Its Association with Classroom Engagement among College Students in a Private College in Iloilo City

Abstract

Introduction: Postural habits play an important role in student engagement and attention during classroom activities. This study aimed to determine the relationship between postural habits and classroom engagement among 367 undergraduate students at a private college in Iloilo City. Methods: Utilizing a quantitative descriptive-correlational design, respondents were selected using a simple random sampling to ensure equal representation across different programs. The data utilized two adopted questionnaires: Questionnaire on Body Awareness of Postural Habits in Young People and the Classroom Participation of College Students Scale. Analysis involved descriptive and inferential statistics through the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test was used to determine data normality. Given the non - normal distribution, Kruskal-Wallis H Test and Spearman’s Rank-Order Correlation were employed to examine significant differences and relationships, respectively, at an alpha level of 0.05.  Results: The results revealed that undergraduate students generally maintain good postural habits (M = 2.73), and exhibit highly engaged classroom engagement (M = 3.78).  Analysis showed no significant difference in postural habits across different colleges (p = .946). Similarly, the results showed no significant difference in classroom engagement across various colleges (p = .143). Furthermore, a significant positive correlation was found between postural habits and classroom engagement (r = .123; p = .018). Discussion and Recommendations: The findings signify that proper postural habits lead to improved academic involvement among college students. Students should adopt positive postural habits, while educators and administrators should implement ergonomic awareness programs and posture reinforcement strategies. Future research should utilize objective screening tools and broader variables to further investigate the link between posture and learning outcomes.