The effects of academic stress on health behaviors in young adults

Abstract

The present study examined changes in health behaviors as a function of academic stress. One-hundred and thirty-three college undergraduate students completed measures of stress, affect, and health-behaviors during times of low and high academic demands. During the high-stress period, negative affect increased and positive affect decreased significantly, while health behaviors deteriorated. The strongest decrements were observed for exercise. Generally, women scored higher on “routine health behaviors” (i.e., self-care, vehicle safety, drug avoidance), but not on behaviors requiring effort (i.e., exercise, healthy nutrition). Distinct patterns of changes in health behaviors and affect were observed: decreases in exercise and self-care were accompanied by decreases in positive affect, whereas decreases in drug avoidance were associated with increases in negative affect. Decreases in the quality of nutrition were linked to both decreases in positive and increases in negative affect. These results suggest that emotional responses to stress play an important role in health behavior change and should be considered in the design of health-promoting programs.

Key Words:

• health behaviors
• positive affect
• negative affect
• academic stress
• gender differences