Analysis from George Mason College reveals how school college students’ consuming environments affect their meals consumption.
“Don’t join eight AM lessons. Study to get alongside along with your roommate. Keep in mind to clean your bedding.”
New school college students hear loads of ideas as they prepare for campus life, but one warning stays particularly widespread: be careful for the “freshman 15.” The phrase refers back to the weight many college students reportedly achieve throughout their first yr of faculty. However what makes this phenomenon so widespread that it has turn into a part of the faculty expertise itself?
A analysis crew led by Y. Alicia Hong, a professor within the Division of Well being Administration and Coverage who focuses on cell and wearable know-how, determined to seek out out. Their interdisciplinary research revealed that the faculty life-style naturally promotes behaviors that result in greater meals consumption and gradual weight achieve.
“Social and environmental elements are key determinants of consuming conduct. Faculty college students are affected by the consuming setting, particularly the place they eat and whom they eat with. Our analysis discovered that they devour extra energy when consuming in teams or formal eating settings,” stated Alicia Hong.
Monitoring Habits With Know-how
Over the course of 4 weeks, school college students self-recorded day by day consuming behaviors, setting, temper, and stress ranges utilizing a cell app. App-logged responses indicated members eat extra when in teams of two or extra and in places comparable to eating halls or eating places. Conversely, meals consumption was much less when alone or at dwelling.
Faculty college students are unaware of their consuming habits, findings recommend. Evaluation revealed that college students’ perceptions of their meals consumption didn’t align with the caloric consumption logged. Components associated to gender and emotion additionally contributed to the complicated nature of dietary conduct.
“Faculty college students’ consuming behaviors are complicated, with particular person, interpersonal, and environmental elements interacting to affect dietary consumption. This analysis underscores the significance of context in dietary intervention and incorporating digital instruments for dietary evaluation,” stated Hong.
Reference: “The dynamics of consuming behaviors and consuming setting in school college students: discrepancies between app-tracked dietary consumption and self-perceived meals consumption” by Y. Alicia Hong, Jo-Vivian Yu, Hong Xue, Gang Zhou and Lawrence J. Cheskin, 30 October 2025, mHealth.
DOI: 10.21037/mhealth-24-102
The research was funded by the George Mason College Faculty of Public Well being Pilot Grant (PI: YAH).
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