College students' perceived disease risk versus actual prevalence rates. Academic Article

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.

authors

• McKyer, Ellisa Lisako
• Ory, Marcia
• Smith, Matthew

published proceedings

• Am J Health Behav

altmetric score

• 0.5

author list (cited authors)

• Smith, M. L., Dickerson, J. B., Sosa, E. T., J McKyer, E. L., & Ory, M. G.

citation count

• 14

complete list of authors

• Smith, Matthew Lee||Dickerson, Justin B||Sosa, Erica T||J McKyer, E Lisako||Ory, Marcia G

publication date

• January 2012

publisher

• JCFCorp SG PTE LTD  Publisher

keywords

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Attitude To Health
• Chronic Disease
• Diabetes Mellitus
• Female
• Heart Diseases
• Humans
• Male
• Neoplasms
• Obesity
• Overweight
• Prevalence
• Risk
• Sex Factors
• Students
• Time Factors
• United States
• Universities

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.5993/ajhb.36.1.10

start page

• 96

end page

• 106

volume

• 36

issue

• 1

URL

• http://dx.doi.org/10.5993/ajhb.36.1.10