Health-Related Behaviors, Resiliency, and Loneliness in College Students With and Without Disabilities

Background

Approximately 25% of college students reported a disability that can be any condition of the body or mind that makes it more difficult for the person to do certain activities. This may have an additional impact on psychosocial factors and health-related behaviors.

Objective

Evaluate differences in loneliness, resiliency, and health-related behaviors in students with and without disabilities.

Study Design, Settings, Participants

Data analysis was conducted from the National College Health Assessment from one university in Fall 2022. 829 of the 4,500 randomly sampled students completed the survey. Disability status was assessed through self-report and categorized into 4 groups; 1) individuals with no disability, 2) individuals with a cognitive disability, 3) individuals with a physical disability, and 4) individuals that have both a cognitive and physical disability.

Measurable Outcome/Analysis

Variables include resilience from the Connor Davidson Scale, loneliness using the UCLA scale, food intake, physical activity (PA), sleep, disability, and demographic characteristics (age, race, sex). To evaluate differences among students in health-related behaviors and resiliency Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was used. To measure the likelihood of dietary intake and physical activity being less healthful with loneliness Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) was used.

Results

Majority of the sample were female (67.52%), full-time (85.38%), and had a GPA of “A” (55.30%). Mean age was 23 years (23.1±7.4). Significant differences were seen in loneliness (p=0.019) and well-being (p=0.016) among student groups. No significant differences were found in PA, resiliency, and food intake among student groups. There was no significant difference of the odds of having lower fruit (OR=2.53, 95% CI [0.46,13.76]), vegetable(OR=1.21, 95% CI [0.44,3.33]), meat/poultry (OR=1.78, 95% CI [0.76,4.16]), higher SSB intake (OR=1.01, 95% CI [0.98,1.04]), lower PA (OR=1.00, 95% CI [1.00,1.00]) with feeling lonely in student groups.

Conclusions

Students with disabilities showed higher loneliness but showed no differences in health-related behaviors. This analysis has provided insight for future interventions that can target increasing resiliency, reducing loneliness, and increasing healthful behaviors among students.

Funding

NIH