Eating Behaviors in College Freshmen

Eating Behaviors in First Year College Students Drugs and Alcohol Eating Behaviors in the First Year College Students Eating Behaviors in First Year College Students The transition from high school to undergraduate life is perhaps of the most challenging experiences from adolescence into early adulthood. One of the common side effects of this transition is weight gain that occurs during the first or freshman year of college. The paper will discuss how behaviors related to eating habits and alcohol consumption contributes to the general weight gain of first year undergraduates.

Among college students, this weight gain is fairly typical and is known as "the freshman 15," referring to the average amount of pounds undergraduates gain over the course of freshman year -- fifteen pounds. It is a requirement of most colleges and universities of the United States that students are mandated to live on campus and eat from a school meal plan for their freshman year. This means that for a lot of young people, it is their first experience of living independently away from their families and parents.

Young people in college learn very quickly that they are in charge of their lives at school rather than at home, and they can make their choices without having to directly or immediately defend or answer for those choices to anyone. For students who come from home with many restrictions, the college experience is exceptionally liberating and for the first time these students have the opportunities to explore parts of life previously forbidden or restricted from them. Some of these forbidden aspects of life include food and alcohol.

Students who grew up vegetarian may go to college and experiment eating meat. Students who come from strict religious home may go to college and begin experimentation with drugs and alcohol. Students that were varsity or otherwise competitive athletes may go to college and stop exercising as much as they did previously. All such behaviors contribute to weight gain. The paper will discuss factors and offer conclusions as to what factors coupled with appropriate circumstances make for this prevalent phenomenon of accelerated weight gain during freshman year of college.

Lowery et al. claim that separation from the home and one's familiar surrounding during the freshman year of college, puts students in the position to evaluate themselves from a different perspective. (2005) Furthermore, this new perspective often leads to poor sense of self and poor body image.

These feelings directly contribute to factors such as excess alcohol consumption, excess consumption of food, and lack of motivation for exercise, all of which result in weight gain over time: Body image dissatisfaction, weight concerns, eating problems, and physical attractiveness have become especially significant issues on college campuses (Harris, 1995; Mintz & Betz, 1988), with up to 90% of college students reporting that they worry about body image…As an aspect of physical self-worth, body image dissatisfaction is related to global self-esteem.

(Lowery et al., Body Image…, Page 613) According to their research, most college students are fixated with body image and generally assume the worst about themselves. These feelings easily overwhelm the mind and the emotions and the resulting actions cause weight gain. This is not an isolated issue, but a sort of psychological and physiological epidemic across countries such as the United States. Therefore, the self-esteem of college freshman are direct links to their eating habits and their alcohol consumption.

If most freshmen have low self-esteem, then it makes sense that most freshmen acquire "the freshman 15." Thus one way to combat the seemingly inevitable weight gain of freshman year is to cultivate and practice techniques that build healthy senses of self-esteem and self-worth, which lead to positive body image. When there exists positive body image, self-esteem is maintained and the likelihood of accumulation of excessive weight reduces drastically. Anderson et al. performed a study charting the weight gain of a freshman class of a university.

(2003) Their study found that most students did gain a moderate to excessive amount of weight over the course of their freshman year, with relatively even distribution of occurrence across lines of sex, class, and ethnicity. (Anderson et al., The freshman year…, 2003) Interestingly, the majority of the weight gain in the participants occurred during September to December, and while some people did gain some weight in the month between January and May, weight mostly stabilized during these months.

(Anderson et al., The freshman year…, 2003) The vast majority of weight gained during freshman year is gained during the first semester. During the fall semester of the American academic year, there are a great deal many holidays in that time. American holidays are absolutely about eating whether it is eating candy on Halloween, eating festive food on Thanksgiving, or holiday meals with family and friends for the many winter holidays celebrated by the subcultures of America.

College students are eating more and drinking more because they have low self-esteem and they are away from hope. In addition, American traditions that overlap during the fall semester of the academic year add to their food and alcohol consumption. The poor eating habits, drinking habits, and low self-esteem that freshman have during their first years is compounded further by some of the cultural traditions of their country, contributing more to obesity and alcoholism in young people. Lowe et al.

agree with and performed a study that conforms to the other researchers mentioned in this paper. They agree that freshman year is a heightened period of weight gain, an important period in the human lifespan with increased vulnerability for weight gain. (2006) They contend: The transition from high school to college is thought to be associated with an increased risk for weight gain because it is often accompanied by a reduction in physical activity (Butler et al., 2004) and increased consumption of high-fat foods and alcohol (Anderson et al., 2003).

Conceptually, this is a critical developmental transition because, for many adolescents, this is the first time they are solely responsible for self-regulation regarding caloric intake and physical activity. Because weight gain occurs in a relatively short period of time, the freshman year of college is a desirable time to study risk factors for weight gain. (Lowe et al., Multiple types of dieting…, 2006) Thus during the transition to college from high school, there is a massive shift in activities.

As previously considered, freshman make a reduction in their physical activities and increase consumption of forbidden foods or foods that should normally eaten in moderation, as well as increased consumption of alcohol, which is obtained illegally as much as typical freshman are ages 17 -- 19. The freedom and the independence from the home and familiar environments as well as familiar roles, seems to generally.