Stage Distribution for Various Health Behaviors of College Students Enrolled in a Freshman Life Science Course
Context: The “college years” are a critical time in the life of many young people when it comes to both their current and future health status. It is during this period in one’s life that many health-related beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors are adopted and consolidated. Objective: To determine the stage distribution of college students on a variety of health behaviors. Design: Cross-sectional, self-report, face-to-face survey. Setting: Mid-size, midwestern university. Participants: Students (N=710) enrolled during a single semester in one of two life science freshman-level core curriculum courses (personal health or introduction to biology). The vast majority of the students did not intend to major in either of the disciplines represented by the courses. Intervention: No intervention was used. Data were collected during a regular class meeting using a questionnaire comprised of 13 questions. Three questions were demographic and the remaining ten questions measured the stage of change construct for various health behaviors using identical 1-item algorithms with five distinct response choices. The stage questions were developed by a group of researchers at the University of Rhode Island and have been shown to be both valid and reliable in several studies. Main Outcome Measure: Stage of change for the various behaviors. Results: Participants were mostly female (59%), of freshman or sophomore standing (83%), and either 18 or 19 years old (72%). Over half of the students were actively involved (maintenance or action stage) in safety belt use (86.6%), stress reduction (61.1%), and exercise (57.5%). Those behaviors that had the greatest percentage of students not actively involved (contemplation, precontemplation, and preparation stage) in health promoting behaviors were avoiding high fat foods (60.2%), eating a high fiber diet (59.6%), limiting exposure to the sun (59.5%), using sun screen (78.3%), and performing self-screenings for cancer. Forty-seven point three percent were trying to lose and 10.3% were preparing to lose weight. Over half (55.2%, n=392) had never smoked, yet of those who had smoked (n=317) 62.2% were still smoking (contemplation, and precontemplation) and 12.3% were preparing to stop. Conclusions: If stage based intervention are developed for college students, they should be aimed at change in diet, cancer prevention, and appropriate weight loss.