Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6686-3891
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6332-215X
N/A
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0352-1314
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
College/Unit
Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design
Department/Program/Center
Division of Animal and Nutritional Sciences
Abstract
Within lifestyle behavior research, the sex of populations causes differences in behaviors and outcomes of studies. This cross-sectional study investigated lifestyle behavior patterns in college students, examining sex differences in four areas: Nutrition, physical activity, sleep, and stress. Data from over 1100 college freshmen across 8 United States universities were used for this cross-sectional analysis. Self-reported data assessed fruit and vegetable intake, fat percent intake, physical activity, perceived stress, and sleep quality. Statistical analysis included Pearson chi-squared and Mann–Whitney’s U tests for scores by sex. Likewise, healthy cut-offs were used to determine frequency of participants within range of the five tools. Males reported higher intake of both fruits and vegetables, and percent energy from fat than females. Males also reported higher physical activity levels, lower stress levels, and poorer sleep quality than females. Of the five self-reported tools, males were found to have a larger frequency of participants with healthy ranges than females. In a large college freshmen sample, sex was found to be related to general lifestyle behaviors which strengthen results reported in the previous literature. These findings shed light on the need for lifestyle behavior interventions among at-risk college students to enhance their behaviors to healthy levels
Digital Commons Citation
Olfert, Melissa D.; Barr, Makenzie L.; Charlier, Camille C.; Greene, Geoffrey W.; Zhou, Wenjun; and Colby, Sarah E., "Sex Differences in Lifestyle Behaviors among U.S. College Freshmen" (2019). Faculty & Staff Scholarship. 2377.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/faculty_publications/2377
Source Citation
Olfert, M., Barr, M., Charlier, C., Greene, G., Zhou, W., & Colby, S. (2019). Sex Differences in Lifestyle Behaviors among U.S. College Freshmen. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(3), 482. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16030482
Comments
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited