Abstract

Obesity has become the most significant noninfectious health risk in the United States, and the major causes of death and disability are shifting to chronic, non-communicable health conditions that are largely attributable to physical inactivity, overweight and obesity, and other diet-related factors. Among children and adolescents, the overweight/obesity rate is approaching 32%, with 17.9% of adolescents becoming obese. While the obesity rate has doubled in all age groups in the United States, it has tripled among young adults aged 18 to 28 years, and 70% of adolescents who are at a healthy weight will become overweight or obese as adults. At particular risk for rapid weight gain are college freshmen; the rate of weight gain in the first semester of college is twice that of same-age peers, and 77% of all college freshmen gain weight. The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore the personal, interpersonal, and situational factors that influenced weight change in freshmen.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 3597802; ProQuest document ID: 1458614564. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Kristin L. Kuhlmann, PhD, RN, FNP

Sigma Membership

Delta Delta

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Descriptive/Correlational

Research Approach

Quantitative Research

Keywords:

Health Responsibility, Weight Change, Obesity, College Freshmen

Advisor

Beth Tigges

Second Advisor

Jennifer Averill

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

The University of New Mexico

Degree Year

2013

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2023-05-10

Full Text of Presentation

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