Abstract
Objective: To compare college students' perceived disease risk with disease prevalence rates. Methods: Data were analyzed from 625 college students collected with an Internet-based survey. Paired t-tests were used to separately compare participants' perceived 10-year and lifetime disease risk for 4 diseases: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and overweight/obesity. Results: Respondents estimated their risk of developing heart disease as lower than cancer, yet rated their risk of developing heart disease as higher than diabetes and being overweight/obese. Conclusion: Incongruence between college students' perceived disease risk and disease prevalence rates calls for improved public health education.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 96-106 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | American Journal of Health Behavior |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2012 |
Keywords
- Chronic disease prevalence
- College students
- Knowledge of risk factors
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Health(social science)
- Social Psychology
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
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