Health Behaviors of College Students

College is an exciting, transitional time for students as they depend less on their parents when making personal decisions. While most young adults crave their independence, they may be less successful in always choosing healthy behaviors. For example, on most campuses, one of the major problems is binge drinking. Other high-risk health behaviors that adversely affect students' mental and physical health often include unprotected sexual activity, drug abuse, and an inability to deal with stress.

There are over 7,100,000 interscholastic athletes in the United States. However, it is unknown if these adolescents made healthy choices only because it enhanced their chances for competitive success. But, less than 500,000 of these athletes will continue their competitive careers in college. Those who play on intercollegiate teams often benefit from coaches and services that help athletes maintain physically active lives, refrain from consuming harmful substances, or engage in other healthy behaviors that will enhance their performances. Former high school athletes may either have learned the importance of making decisions that impact their overall wellness or lack the knowledge and self-discipline to continue to make wise choices to benefit their mental and physical health during college. A third group of college students who have never been athletes may already have set their lives on a trajectory of making good health choices as adolescents because they had no one associated with sports directly controlling their actions prior to college. However, they may not have learned what is good for their bodies and minds from a health perspective.

Since there is limited information about whether there are any differences among the intercollegiate athletes, former higher school athletes, and non-athletes relative to the rationale for their lifestyle choices, the purpose of this study was to analyze the health behaviors of these three groups of college students. It is hypothesized that intercollegiate athletes will make more healthy choices than either of the other two groups. Possible reasons that intercollegiate athletes engage in unhealthy behaviors less often could be because of the self-discipline and year-round time requirements associated with their sports plus the support personnel and services provided to them. It is also hypothesized that because of the absence of structured competitive experiences in college, former high school athletes will make less healthy decisions than college students who have never been athletes, especially during the first two years of college.