ASSOCIATION OF HEALTH RISK BEHAVIORS AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AMONG COLLEGE FRESHMEN
Vickilyn Barnot, PhD
University of Pittsburgh, 2005
The purpose of this research was to explore the association between priority health risk behaviors and academic achievement among college freshmen. Priority health risk behaviors have been defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as those health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, illness, and social problems among young adults in the United States including tobacco use; alcohol and other drug use; unhealthy dietary behaviors; inadequate physical activity; sexual behaviors that result in sexually transmitted diseases, and/or unintended pregnancies; and behaviors that result in unintentional and intentional injuries. The primary aims of this study were: 1) to determine which of the priority health risk behaviors have the strongest independent association to academic achievement and 2) to determine the association between the number of priority health risk behaviors engaged in by college freshmen and end-of-first-term academic achievement. This study was descriptive in nature and employed a cross-sectional study design. A total of 196 first semester freshmen completed the CDCs National College Health Risk Behavior Survey (NCHRBS) to assess risk in each priority health risk behavior category. In addition, participants answered several supplemental questions designed to assess additional health behaviors and general academic background information. For each priority health risk behavior, key questions were chosen for analysis and a cut point was used to classify each respondent as either at risk or not at risk. Upon completion of their first term of study, participant survey responses were matched with their end-of-first-term QPA. Results of independent t-tests to assess the relation between each priority health risk behavior and academic achievement revealed a significant association to QPA for tobacco use (p = 0.05) and binge drinking (p = 0.02). Results of a subsequent stepwise regression revealed no significant effect for tobacco use or binge drinking on QPA when additional covariates such as SAT score, high school class rank and number of missed classes were included in the analysis. Results of a simple linear regression found no significant relation (p = 0.12) between number of risk behaviors and QPA.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04162005-174612 |
| Date | 18 April 2005 |
| Creators | Barnot, Vickilyn |
| Contributors | Deborah J. Aaron, Elizabeth F. Nagle, Robert J. Robertson, Dean E. Nelson, Randi Koeske |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04162005-174612/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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