Grades In College Directly Linked To Health-related Behaviors

Date: October 22, 2008

Source: University of Minnesota

Lack of sleep, excessive television/computer screen time, stress, gambling, alcohol and tobacco use and other health-related
issues are taking a toll on college students' academic performance, according to a study released by the University of
Minnesota Boynton Health Service.

"Our study shows that there is a direct link between college students' health and their academic achievement. This is the first
time that anything like this has been published where Grade Point Average is linked to all these behaviors," said Dr. Ed
Ehlinger, the director and chief health officer of the University of Minnesota Boynton Health Service.
Today's report, "Health and Academic Performance: Minnesota Undergraduate Students," is part of one of the most
comprehensive studies of college students' health in the nation. About 24,000 students from 14 Minnesota colleges and
universities were randomly selected to participate in this study and 9,931 completed the 2007 College Student Health Survey
Report. The results only include undergraduate students from two-year and four-year institutions. All five University of
Minnesota campuses were included in the survey.
In the results, 69.9 percent of college students reported they were stressed and 32.9 percent of those students said that stress
was hurting their academic performance. In fact, the mean GPA for students saying stress impacted their academics was 3.12,
compared with the 3.23 mean GPA for students who didn't believe it was affecting their academics. "While this may seem
like a small difference in GPA, when you are looking at over 9,000 students the impact of this difference is huge," Ehlinger
said.
Twenty percent of students reported that sleep difficulties impacted their academics. In fact, those students who reported
getting fewer nights of adequate sleep had a mean GPA of 3.08 compared with a 3.27 mean GPA for those who do not report
sleep deficiencies.
"The more days students get adequate sleep -- the better GPAs they attain," Ehlinger said. "There is a direct link between the
two."
"Turning off the computer or TV and going to sleep is one of the best things our students can do to improve their grades,"
Ehlinger said.
Students who reported that they had smoked during the past 30 days had a 3.12 mean GPA compared with a 3.28 mean GPA
for students who reported not smoking. The study revealed surprising information for students who even smoke infrequently.
"We hope this information helps students make wise decisions," Ehlinger said. "If you're investing a lot of time and money in
your education, do you really want to waste your investment on behaviors that interfere with your academic success?"
The report also includes information on mental health, health insurance, physical activity levels, financial issues, drug use,
injury, sexual assault and alcohol use.
Members of the public, along with students and health officials, should pay attention to the results of this report, because the
health of college students is important to society, Ehlinger said.
"College students are so important for our economic development -- the development of our society," Ehlinger said. "One
way to protect that investment in our future is to help them stay healthy."
Along with the University of Minnesota's campuses, the survey included Alexandria Technical College; Anoka-Ramsey
Community College; Lake Superior College; Minnesota State Community and Technical College; North Hennepin
Community College; Northwest Technical College; Bemidji State University; Concordia College and Minnesota State
University, Moorhead.
Health Behaviors and Academic Performance Among Korean
Adolescents (2016)
By:Eun SunSoPhD1 and Byoung MoParkPhD

Successful academic performance is key during adolescence, and in predicting occupational and social
success in one's lifetime [1]. Therefore, positive academic outcomes during adolescence have become a public
concern, making the primary goal of schooling a global issue [2]. In accordance, there is a strong tradition and
emphasis on education to produce positive academic performance for schoolchildren in Korea [3].

Health has long been a factor influencing academic performance among adolescents [4,5]. Health behaviors,
defined as any kind of behavior undertaken by individuals that potentially influences their health [6], have
included health-risk behaviors with immediate or later negative health consequences and health-promoting
behaviors producing positive health outcomes [7]. Health behaviors among adolescents, studied in previous
research, have been summarized as tobacco use, substance use, sexual behavior, violence, physical activity
(exercise & sedentary activity), and nutrition (dietary behavior & nutrition) [8,9]. Much literature exploring the
relationship between health behaviors and academic performance has examined health behaviors either as a
means of achieving health or as an end in itself [4,5,8]. Health behaviors themselves, independent of health, have
placed emphasis on adolescence since it is an important period for forming lifelong health behaviors and habits
[10]. Most related studies have found reciprocal or antecedent associations based on cross-sectional and
longitudinal methods, respectively, and specifically, positive associations between unhealthy behaviors and poor
academic achievement [4,5,8].

However, most previous studies exploring the relationship between health behaviors and academic
performance have focused on single or small subsets of health behaviors rather than including multiple behaviors
comprehensively [4,5,8]. Since many health behaviors cluster together, the effects of studies performed without
multibehavioral analyses are more likely to be overestimations of true effects due to interbehavioral confounding
[8]. More importantly, previous studies have rarely controlled for other confounding factors, nor have they used
nationally representative data. The relationships of health behaviors and academic performance have been
revealed to be mediated by psychosocial problems (e.g., stress), social structures, and demographics, and were
found to be dependent on social context factors in review studies [5,8]. Exploring key health behaviors is
necessary to plan public strategies to make the best use of scarce resources.

Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the most prominent health behaviors associated with
academic performance, after adjusting for other health behaviors and confounding factors including health status,
stress, household socioeconomic status (SES), and sex and age using a nationally representative sample of
Korean adolescents.
The Effects of Adolescent Health-Related Behavior on Academic
Performance
A Systematic Review of the Longitudinal Evidence
By: Vincent Busch, Anne Loyen, Mandy Lodder Augustinus J. P. Schrijvers, Tom A. van Yperen, Johannes R. J. de Leeuw

First Published June 1, 2014 Research Article

Schools are increasingly involved in efforts to promote health and healthy behavior among their adolescent students,
but are healthier students better learners? This synthesis of the empirical, longitudinal literature investigated the effects of the
most predominant health-related behaviorsnamely, alcohol and marijuana use, smoking, nutrition, physical activity, sexual
intercourse, bullying, and screen time use (television, Internet, video games)on the academic performance of adolescents.
Thirty studies dating back to 1992 were retrieved from the medical, psychological, educational, and social science literature.
Healthy nutrition and team sports participation were found to have a positive effect on academic performance, whereas the
effects of alcohol use, smoking, early sexual intercourse, bullying, and certain screen time behaviors were overall negative.
Generally, all relations of health-related behaviors and academic performance were dependent on contextual factors and were
often mediated by psychosocial problems, social structures, and demographics. Findings were interpreted with use of
sociological theories.

Health-Related Variables and Academic Performance Among First-Year

College Students: Implications for Sleep and Other Behaviors
By: Mickey T. Trockel MS,Michael D. Barnes PhD &Dennis L. Egget PhD
March 24, 2010

The authors analyzed the effect of several health behaviors and health-related variables on
grade point averages of a random sample of 200 students living in on-campus residence halls
at a large private university. The set of variables included exercise, eating, and sleep habits;
mood states; perceived stress; time management; social support; spiritual or religious habits;
number of hours worked per week; gender; and age. Of all the variables considered, sleep
habits, particularly wake-up times, accounted for the largest amount of variance in grade point
averages. Later wake-up times were associated with lower average grades. Variables
associated with the 1st-year students' higher grade point averages were strength training and
study of spiritually oriented material. The number of paid or volunteer hours worked per week
was associated with lower average grades.

A Study of the Relation between Mental health and Academic Performance of Students
of the Islamic Azad University Ahvaz Branch
By: MehdiBostaniaAmirNadribAzami and RezaeeNasabc (February 21, 2014)

The relation between mental health and Academic performance has been reported variously in different studies. The
present research aims to study the Relation between Mental health and Academic Performance in athletic and non-athletic
Students of the Islamic Azad University Ahvaz branch, Iran. For this purpose, 200 students Includes 100 athletic and 100
non-athletic were selected via random cluster sampling method. In order to collect data, the Goldberg general health
questionnaire (GHQ-28) was used. The students total average score was used as an index of their Academic performance.
Finally the data were analyzed though using correlation coefficient and independent t-test at the level of confidence of 95%.
The results showed that general health and some of its components, such as depression and anxiety, had a significant relation
with educational performance, while no significant relation was observed between Academic performance and other
components such as physical symptoms and social performance disorders. According to the findings of this research, it can
be concluded that the higher the mental health of the students, the better their educational performance, although it seems that
the students educational performance is also affected by other factors and their interactional effects as well.
Mental health problems in college freshmen: Prevalence and
academic functioning (January 7, 2017)
By: RonnyBruffaertsaPhilippeMortierbGlennKiekensbRandy P.AuerbachcdPimCuijperseKoenDemyttenaereaJennifer
G.GreenfMatthew K.NockgRonald C.Kesslerh

The college years are a developmentally crucial period when students make the transition from late adolescence to
emerging adulthood (Arnett, 2000). Epidemiological studies suggest that 1250% of college students meet criteria for one or
more common mental disorders (Blanco et al., 2008; Hunt and Eisenberg, 2010; Verger et al., 2010). Differences between
college students and their non-college peers are generally understudied but the available evidence shows that college students
are somewhat at lower risk of mental disorders (Auerbach et al., 2016; Blanco et al., 2008). In any case, mental disorders in
early adulthood are associated with long-term adverse outcomes in later adulthood, including persistent emotional and
physical health problems (Scott et al., 2016), relationship dysfunction (Kerr and Capaldi, 2011), and labor market
marginalization (Niederkrotenthaler et al., 2014; Goldman-Mellor et al., 2014). These long-term adverse outcomes may be
mediated by mental health problems that exist during the college years, as these years constitute a peak period for the first
onset of a broad range of mental disorders (Ibrahim et al., 2013).

In Belgium, around roughly 70% of high school graduates attains higher education after graduating from high school
(Dehon and Ortiz, 2008), but only 3739% will succeed and even 28% will never obtain any diploma (Declercq and
Verboven, 2014). Reasons for dropout are comparable to international literature, and include: lower socio-economic status
(Walpole, 2003), male gender (Dehon and Ortiz, 2008), or the overall lack of social resources (Tinto, 1998). Also mental
disorders may contribute to college dropout. Most of the research so far discussed the role of pre-matriculation mental
disorders on subsequent academic functioning (Kosidou et al., 2014; Eisenberg et al., 2009; Gunnell et al., 2011). Previous
studies show that college students with mental disorders are twice as likely to drop out without obtaining a degree (Kessler et
al., 1995; Hartley, 2010). Consistent with this finding, between 15% and 23% of college students with mental disorders
suggest that they confer a negative academic impact (Kernan et al., 2008). Studies that investigate the association between
mental health distress and academic performance in college are much scarcer. Most evidence exists for the finding that
depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors are related to a lower grade point average (De Luca et al., 2016; Mortier et al.,
2015; Hysenbergasi et al., 2005; Andrews and Wilding, 2004). In addition, most studies focus on the impact of just one
disorder (e.g. Arria et al., 2015), leading to uncertainties as to the overall associations of a broad range of mental health
problems with academic outcomes. Prior studies also mostly relied on self-reported academic performance or were based on
reports from students presenting to the student (mental) health center.

We address these shortcomings in the current report by using data obtained in the Leuven College Surveys. These
surveys were carried out as part of the International College Student project (WMH-ICS;
http://www.hcp.med.harvard.edu/wmh/college_student_survey.php) of the WHO World Mental Health Surveys. The WMH-
ICS aims to obtain accurate cross-national information on the prevalence, incidence, and correlates of mental, substance, and
behavioral problems among college students worldwide, to describe patterns of service use and unmet need for treatment, to
investigate the associations of these disorders with academic functioning, and to evaluate the effects of a wide range of
preventive and clinical interventions on student mental health, social functioning, and academic performance. The current
study builds on earlier work on academic functioning in college students (Mortier et al., 2015; Kiekens et al., 2016; Auerbach
et al., 2016). The aim is to investigate the prevalence of mental health problems in the past year and the extent to which these
problems in freshmen in the Leuven College Surveys were associated with objectively-assessed measures of academic
performance obtained from official university records at the end of the freshman year. We also go beyond previous studies in
investigating the possibility that these associations vary by academic departments (like bio-engineering, law school,) using
analysis methods that take into account clustering of students within departments so as to avoid over-generalizing
conclusions.
 Health Behaviors and Academics in College Seniors
By: Ronny Trockel (February 07, 2011)

According to Richard Lazarus and Susan Folkman individuals cope with stress. Stressors are demands
made by the external or internal environment that upset balance (Lazarus, 1966). Coping is the process of
managing these demands, which may exhaust or surmount an individuals resources (Folkman, 1982).
Depending on how individuals cope, stressors can alter their physical and psychological well-being. The
Transactional Model proposes that the impact stress has on individuals is based on how they interpret the
stress, as well as the resources available to the individual to aid in coping with the stressor (Lazarus, 1966). This
framework is relevant to our study because stress is common in college students. Students interpretation and
actions related to stressors may lead to increased stress levels, which may negatively impact GPA, or may lead to
health promoting behaviors, which may positively impact GPA. Based on this framework, it was anticipated that
increased health promoting behaviors would be related to increased GPA.

The relationship of diet quality and physical activity on academic performance (January 9 2016)

According to Aurbach Mueritier our understanding of the relationship between PA, HE and academic
performance been observed statistically significant positive associations for the main exposure of low diet
quality with ELA academic performance and but not for PA with either academic outcome. We also found
significant associations for some of the secondary exposure measures with academic performance in ELA or
Mathematics, including PA after school and breakfast skipping. The individual effects of diet quality and PA on
academic performance appeared to be independent from each other and there was no additive interaction
between the two exposures.

The relationship between unhealthy snacking at school and academic outcomes: a population study
in Chilean schoolchildren

According to Randy Miembar schoolchildren eating unhealthy foods at snack time had worse academic
performance in Language and Mathematics, as measured by a standardized test. Although association does not
imply causation, these findings support the notion that academic and health-related behaviors are linked. More
research is needed on the effect of school health programs on educational outcomes.