Identifying characteristics of UK university students at risk of developing adverse markers of health and related behaviours across one year at university: a latent transition approach

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Savage, MJ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2922-3681, Healy, LC ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1372-7308, Procter, EL ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1321-5463, Hennis, PJ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8216-998X and James, RM, 2025. Identifying characteristics of UK university students at risk of developing adverse markers of health and related behaviours across one year at university: a latent transition approach. BMC Public Health, 25: 1048. ISSN 1471-2458

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-21759-8

Abstract

Introduction: University students are a population notorious for developing adverse markers of health and related behaviours that can have negative consequences for current and future health status. However, there is a dearth of literature devoted to identifying students at greater risk of developing poorer health-related outcomes. The current study aimed to identify characteristics of UK university students at risk of developing adverse markers of health and related behaviours across one year at university.

Methods: Four hundred and thirty-eight students completed an online self-report survey to assess markers of health and related behaviours in term one (October) and term three (April) in one of three academic years (2021–22, 2022–23, and 2023–24). Latent Profile Transition analysis was employed to generate health-related profiles and assess transitions over time.

Results: Four latent profiles were detected, largely influenced by physical activity behaviours and psychological markers. The majority of students were identified in profiles considered as less healthy and remained in those profiles over time. Women and trans and gender diverse (TGD) students, and students in their second year at university were at greatest risk of being in, and remaining in, less healthful profiles.

Conclusions: Most students identify and remain in less healthful profiles throughout the academic year. Students that transition between profiles are more likely to transition to less healthful profiles. Work to develop bespoke interventions aimed at students with higher-risk demographic characteristics should now be prioritised.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	BMC Public Health
Creators:	Savage, M.J., Healy, L.C., Procter, E.L., Hennis, P.J. and James, R.M.
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date:	18 March 2025
Volume:	25
ISSN:	1471-2458
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1186/s12889-025-21759-8 DOI 2421371 Other
Rights:	© 2025 the author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	07 Apr 2025 10:52
Last Modified:	07 Apr 2025 10:52
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/53368