Dahl Alicia Anne, Fandetti Stacy M, Moore-Harrison Trudy, Barojas Chavarria Rosalba, Raya Maha, Racine Elizabeth F
Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, United States.
Department of Applied Physiology, Health, and Clinical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, United States.
Front Public Health. 2025 Jun 3;13:1593943. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1593943. eCollection 2025.
As emerging adults transition from home to university campus living, they develop distinct health behaviors, including those surrounding food choice, exercise, and stress management. Concurrently, many college students experience body composition changes and weight gain at rates higher than those observed in the general population. Given that weight gain in college typically tracks into later life, a better understanding of the behavioral and physiological changes that occur during the first year of college is imperative. This protocol describes an observational study designed to assess behavioral and physiological changes among residential first-year college students with a university meal plan over one academic year (2023/2024). The protocol was developed through an iterative process incorporating research staff feedback and a pilot group sample from the previous academic year (2022/2023). Altogether, data were collected from 91 first-year college students at one university in the southeastern United States. Questionnaires were administered at three points in time, covering various individual health behavior topics (e.g., exercise, sleep, and substance use), nutrition literacy, diet quality, and campus food environment perceptions. Trained research assistants collected physical health measurements twice (approximately 6 months apart) at the university Health Risk Assessment Lab. These measurements included height, weight, blood pressure, a dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan, and a blood sample to evaluate markers of chronic disease risk (e.g., A1C and cholesterol). Participants also consented to share data on meal purchases and recreational center visits with their student identification cards. Several research questions will be explored with this data, including the association between health history and campus lifestyle behaviors and the physiological changes that occurred during the first year on campus.
随着新兴成年人从家庭过渡到大学校园生活，他们会形成独特的健康行为，包括与食物选择、锻炼和压力管理相关的行为。与此同时，许多大学生身体成分发生变化，体重增加的速度高于普通人群。鉴于大学期间体重增加通常会持续到以后的生活中，因此更好地了解大学一年级期间发生的行为和生理变化势在必行。本方案描述了一项观察性研究，旨在评估在一个学年（2023/2024年）使用大学餐饮计划的住校大一学生的行为和生理变化。该方案是通过一个迭代过程制定的，纳入了研究人员的反馈以及上一学年（2022/2023年）的一个试点小组样本。总共从美国东南部一所大学的91名大一学生那里收集了数据。在三个时间点进行问卷调查，涵盖各种个人健康行为主题（如锻炼、睡眠和物质使用）、营养素养、饮食质量以及对校园食物环境的看法。训练有素的研究助理在大学健康风险评估实验室进行了两次身体健康测量（间隔约6个月）。这些测量包括身高、体重、血压、双能X线吸收法（DEXA）扫描以及一份血液样本，以评估慢性病风险标志物（如糖化血红蛋白和胆固醇）。参与者还同意使用他们的学生身份证分享餐饮购买和娱乐中心访问的数据。将利用这些数据探讨几个研究问题，包括健康史与校园生活方式行为之间的关联以及在校园第一年发生的生理变化。
