Change in diet, physical activity, and body weight among young-adults during the transition from high school to college

Table 2 Characteristics of the Freshmen Health Study participants in December of 2005 by weight change status.

Characteristic	No significant weight gain (n = 123)	Weight gain of ≥ 5% of body weight (n = 36)	p-value
Female (%)	61.8	72.2	0.25
Baseline BMI (kg/m2)	23.33 ± 3.80	21.41 ± 2.8	0.005
BMI at end of fall semester	23.53 ± 3.69	22.95 ± 3.0	0.39
Weight change during fall semester (kg)	0.63 ± 1.57	4.52 ± 1.61	<0.001^c
Height change during fall semester (cm)	0.08 ± 0.84	0.07 ± 0.67	0.90
Ate breakfast regularly^b (%)	65.0	86.1	0.05
Ever drank alcohol^b (%)	10.6	13.9	0.58
Ever smoked cigarettes^b (%)	2.4	2.8	0.91
Participated in vigorous exercise most days of the week^b (%)	23.7	12.5	0.39
Participate in less physical activity in college as compare to high school (%)	43.6	60.7	0.05
Lived on campus (%)	63.0	79.4	0.07
Dietary intake as estimated by wave 2 FFQ^{a, b}
Calories per day	1693 ± 598	1779 ± 788	0.49
Energy as a percent of total calories
Protein	15.80 ± 3.11	15.25 ± 3.2	0.36
Carbohydrate	53.17 ± 7.69	52.68 ± 8.7	0.75
Fat	32.79 ± 6.21	33.96 ± 6.9	0.34
Servings of fruit per day	1.63 ± 1.13	1.42 ± 0.98	0.34
Servings of vegetables per day	3.53 ± 1.6	2.94 ± 1.67	0.07
Sweetened-carbonated beverages per day	0.46 ± 0.93	0.53 ± 0.78	0.66
Servings of milk per day	1.58 ± 0.41	1.41 ± 1.14	0.50
Occasions when junk food was eaten as a snack per day	0.91 ± 1.0	1.11 ± 1.12	0.30
Dining-hall meals eaten per week	3.3 ± 5.3	5.4 ± 7.0	0.059
Fast food meals eaten per week	1.35 ± 2.17	1.69 ± 2.19	0.40
Hours of sleep per night	8.65 ± 1.12	7.38 ± 2.24	0.006^c

^a9 participants were excluded due to implausible caloric intake of <500 and >6,000 calories per day.
^bDietary and lifestyle habits reported during fall semester (August – December).
^cRemained statistically significant at the type I error (α) of 0.05 after a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons.

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