Eat, Sleep, Work, Play: Associations of Weight Status and Health-Related Behaviors among Young Adult College Students

• Published in: American journal of health promotion Vol. 29; no. 2; pp. e64 - e72
• Main Authors: Quick, Virginia, Byrd-Bredbenner, Carol, White, Adrienne A., Brown, Onikia, Colby, Sarah, Shoff, Suzanne, Lohse, Barbara, Horacek, Tanya, Kidd, Tanda, Greene, Geoffrey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.11.2014
• Subjects: Adolescent; Body Weight; Cross-Sectional Studies; Exercise; Feeding Behavior; Female; Health Behavior; Humans; Male; Obesity - epidemiology; Obesity - etiology; Sleep; Students - psychology; Students - statistics & numerical data; United States - epidemiology; Universities - statistics & numerical data; Work - statistics & numerical data; Young Adult; United States; Eating; Health; Manuscript format: research; Young Adults; Outcome measure: behavioral; Health focus: weight control; Weight; Prevention Research; Strategy: skill building/behavior change; Target population age: adults; Sleep; Target population circumstances: education/income level, race/ethnicity; Behaviors; Research purpose: modeling/relationship testing; Setting: school; Study design: nonexperimental; Young Adults, Health
• ISSN: 0890-1171; 2168-6602; 2168-6602
• DOI: 10.4278/ajhp.130327-QUAN-130

Purpose. To examine relationships of sleep, eating, and exercise behaviors; work time pressures; and sociodemographic characteristics by weight status (healthy weight [body mass index or BMI < 25] vs. overweight [BMI ≥ 25]) of young adults. Design. Cross-sectional. Setting. Nine U.S. universities. Subjects. Enrolled college students (N = 1252; 18–24 years; 80% white; 59% female). Measures. Survey included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), Satter Eating Competence Inventory (ecSI), National Cancer Institute Fruit/Vegetable Screener, International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Work Time Pressure items, and sociodemographic characteristics. Analysis. Chi-square and t-tests determined significant bivariate associations of sociodemographics, sleep behaviors, eating behaviors, physical activity behavior, and work time pressures with weight status (i.e., healthy vs. overweight/obese). Statistically significant bivariate associations with weight status were then entered into a multivariate logistic regression model that estimated associations with being overweight/obese. Results. Sex (female), race (nonwhite), older age, higher Global PSQI score, lower ecSI total score, and higher TFEQ Emotional Eating Scale score were significantly (p < .05) associated with overweight/obesity in bivariate analyses. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that sex (female; odds ratio [OR] = 2.05, confidence interval [CI] = 1.54–2.74), older age (OR = 1.35, CI= 1.21–1.50), higher Global PSQI score (OR = 1.07, CI = 1.01–1.13), and lower ecSI score (OR = .96, CI = .94–.98), were significantly (p < .05) associated with overweight/obesity. Conclusion. Findings suggest that obesity prevention interventions for college students should include an education component to emphasize the importance of overall sleep quality and improving eating competence.