An Analysis of Health Risk Behaviors among Virginia College Students

Little information is known of college student health behaviors and the studies that do focus on college student health risk behaviors only focus on one or two behaviors. The CDC created the first survey, the “National College Health Risk Behavior Survey” (NCHRBS), to measure the six categories of health risk behaviors among college students. The six categories of health risk behaviors are: “(1) behaviors that contribute to unintentional and intentional injuries; (2) tobacco use; (3) alcohol and other drug use; (4) sexual behaviors that contribute to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection; (5) unhealthy dietary behaviors; and (6) physical inactivity”. Virginia did not participate in the NCHRBS. To assess the health behaviors of Virginia college students the NCHRB survey was administered to a sample population of more than 600 undergraduate students at three Virginia universities gathering descriptive information on their health risk behaviors. Students were enrolled in personal health or wellness classes at each school. Demographics indicated that males and females of each class level participated. Preliminary data analysis indicates students reported binge drinking more drinks and with greater frequency than the national norms reported in the CORE survey and NCHRBS. These results provide additional information useful for substance abuse prevention efforts currently underway at each university. Additional analysis will determine similarities and differences among schools and compared to national data. This data will provide important information for planning health promotion, education and services to students at each of these schools.