Trends in Health-Risk Behaviors and Psychological Distress among Australian First-Year University Students

Alison Knapp, Tracy Burrows, Megan Whatnall, Lucy Leigh, Sarah Leask and Melinda Hutchesson ()
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Alison Knapp: School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Tracy Burrows: School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Megan Whatnall: School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia
Lucy Leigh: Data Sciences, Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW 2305, Australia
Sarah Leask: Data Sciences, Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW 2305, Australia
Melinda Hutchesson: School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia

IJERPH, 2024, vol. 21, issue 5, 1-14

Abstract: University students are recognized as a high-risk population group who experience greater rates of poor health outcomes and mental ill-health. Commencing university is recognized as a major life transition, where students experience new financial, academic, environmental, and social pressures that can cause changes in their normal behaviors. This study explored trends in health-risk behaviors and psychological distress in commencing university students over four survey years. First-year undergraduate students, aged 17–24, from an Australian university were included. A secondary analysis was performed on data collected via cross-sectional surveys on four occasions (2016, 2017, 2019, 2020). Crude logistic regression models were utilized to investigate the association between meeting guidelines and survey year. Odds ratios for the pairwise comparison between each year are reported. In this analysis, 1300 (2016), 484 (2017), 456 (2019), and 571 (2020) students were included. Analyses showed two clear trends: students’ probability of being at high/very high risk of psychological distress (35–55%) and consuming breakfast daily (44–55%) consistently worsened over the four survey years. These findings suggest that the odds of psychological distress and daily breakfast consumption worsened over time, whilst the proportion of students engaging in some health-risk behaviors was high, highlighting the importance of early intervention during the transition to university.

Keywords: health behaviors; psychological distress; university students; mental health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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