SIGNIFICANCE. Despite the recent call by one scientific body for the ceasing of teaching of breast self-exams (BSE), early detection of breast cancer decreases mortality and increases survival. Key barriers that exist with regard to BSE practice include age, risk level, and self-exam training received. Reasons for poor compliance include the way in which and when they were educated on how to perform a BSE as well as how they feel about performing BSE. The need for improvement of BSE compliance appears evident as research indicates, that even with BSE training, college women need to improve their frequency and efficacy levels. The purpose of this study is to obtain information for college health educators regarding college women's attitudes and behavioral practices for breast self-examinations. The Health Belief Model (HBM) was used as the theoretical framework for this study. DESIGN. All college female enrolled in personal wellness or physical activity classes of a southeastern regional public university during the Spring 2000 semester were invited to participate in this study (N=187). Course instructors, trained by the researchers, collected the data via a cluster convenience sample through survey administration. The final sample for analysis was 173 college freshmen females as 16 of the surveys were incomplete and deemed unusable. An instrument was developed, tested for validity and reliability, and measured BSE beliefs, practices, and selected HBM variables. Descriptives statistics were used to portray the data regarding BSE beliefs and practices. Phi Crosstabs statistic was computed to measure both the strength and significance of the relationship between perception of susceptibility and seriousness and the regularity of BSE.RESULTS. Regarding knowledge and confidence of BSE, 7 in 10 reported that they knew how to perform a BSE, of these, an overwhelming 86.3% report being only somewhat confident or not very confident on their actual BSE performance. Further, only 12.7% of the entire sample of college freshmen reported performing a monthly BSE, of these, 86.5% reported performing their BSE at the end of their menstrual cycle. A significant relationship was found between susceptibility and seriousness and the regularity of BSE (Phi=.505, p=.001), indicating that the more susceptible and serious a college freshman female feels about breast cancer the more regular likely she is to perform regular BSE. It appears that more BSE compliance and education on the susceptibility and seriousness of breast cancer is needed for this age group. Keyword(s): college level issues, disease prevention, research