Unhealthy behavior clustering and mental health status in United States college students

Abstract

Objective: Examine the association of health risk behavior clusters with mental health status among US college students. Participants: 105,781 US college students who completed the Spring 2011 National College Health Assessment. Methods: We utilized the latent class analysis to determine clustering of health risk behaviors (alcohol binge drinking, cigarette/marijuana use, insufficient physical activity, and fruit/vegetable consumption), and chi-square and ANOVA analyses to examine associations between the class membership and mental health (mental health diagnoses, psychological symptoms, and self-injurious thoughts/behaviors). Results: Three classes were identified with differing rates of binge drinking, substance use, and insufficient physical activity but similar rates of insufficient fruit/vegetable consumption. Students classified with the highest rates of binge drinking and cigarette/marijuana use had the highest rates across all mental health variables compared to other classes. Conclusions: Students who reported engaging in multiple health risk behaviors, especially high alcohol and cigarette/marijuana use, were also more likely to report poorer mental health.

Keywords:

• Mental health
• tobacco
• health behavior
• clustering

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Mary Hoban for her assistance in data attainment. This study utilizes data from the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA). The opinions, findings, and conclusions reported in this article are those of the authors and are in no way meant to represent the corporate opinions, views, or policies of the ACHA. ACHA does not warrant nor assume any liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information presented in this article.

Conflict of interest disclosure

No potential conflicts or competing interests were reported by the authors. The study utilized the 2011 wave of the NCHA national dataset collected by ACHA. Human subjects research approval was obtained through each of the institutions who participated in the survey.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported, in part, by the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute, Grant Numbers U54CA202995, U54CA202997, and U54CA203000. Additional research support was provided by a Cancer Institute New South Wales Early Career Research Fellowship. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.