A latent class analysis of cancer risk behaviors among U.S. college students.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to understand how cancer risk behaviors cluster in U.S. college students and vary by race and ethnicity. METHODS: Using the fall 2010 wave of the National College Health Assessment (NCHA), we conducted a latent class analysis (LCA) to evaluate the clustering of cancer risk behaviors/conditions: tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diet, alcohol binge drinking, and overweight/obesity. The identified clusters were then examined separately by students' self-reported race and ethnicity. RESULTS: Among 30,093 college students surveyed, results show a high prevalence of unhealthy diet as defined by insufficient fruit and vegetable intake (>95%) and physical inactivity (>60%). The LCA identified behavioral clustering for the entire sample and distinct clustering among Black and American Indian students. CONCLUSIONS: Cancer risk behaviors/conditions appear to cluster among college students differentially by race. Understanding how risk behaviors cluster in young adults can lend insight to racial disparities in cancer through adulthood. Health behavior interventions focused on modifying multiple risk behaviors and tailored to students' racial group could potentially have a much larger effect on cancer prevention than those targeting any single behavior.

Do state expenditures on tobacco control programs decrease use of tobacco products among college students?

The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of state tobacco control program expenditures on individual-level tobacco use behaviors among young adults. Data come from the 1997, 1999 and 2001 waves of the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS). Our findings indicate that a higher level of state spending on tobacco control programs in the prior year is associated with a statistically significant increase in the probability that current daily smokers report at least one attempt to quit smoking in the past year. We also find evidence that higher state expenditures on tobacco control programs in the prior year are associated with reductions in the prevalence of daily smoking and 30-day cigar use among college students. We do not find any statistically significant association between state tobacco control program expenditures and the number of attempts to quit smoking among those with at least one attempt, or on the prevalence of smokeless tobacco use in the past month.