Abstract
Approximately 12 million persons are enrolled in this nation's colleges and universities. The majority of these students fall within the 18-to 22-year cohort and are often in a position, for the first time in their lives, to make frequent and unsupervised health-related decisions. Since these young adults will continue to make these decisions for the duration of their college careers, the probability that their lifestyles are at least formulated, if not established, during this time is great. The potential impact, then, of health instruction at such an opportune time for the development and maintenance of sound health behaviors is perhaps unprecedented. This article describes the need for research on the health status of members of this cohort, reviews selected research that focuses on health instruction and university students, and provides suggestions for the design offuture research.
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