Research
Adherence
College students significantly overestimate the prevalence of risky health behaviors among their peers, including alcohol use, cigarette use, sexual activity, and drug use.
You likely underestimate how many of your peers are making healthy choices. Most students do not drink heavily, smoke, or engage in risky sexual behavior as frequently as it seems. Trust your own healthy choices; you are part of the majority.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Although 72.5% of students... reported having 0 or 1 sexual... partners in the past school year, 14.8% of students... thought the typical student at their school had had 0 or 1 sexual partners... 60.2% of students... reported they never used cigarettes, only 9.9% of students... thought the typical student never used cigarettes... 61.8% of students... reported they never used marijuana, although 16.8% of students... thought the typical student never used marijuana.
Why this rating
Large sample size, self-reported data.
Source
American College Health Association National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) Spring 2005 Reference Group Data Report (Abridged)
Journal of American College Health · 2006
DOI 10.3200/jach.55.1.5-16
cross_sectional · n=54111Cited 648×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- College students exhibit high levels of physical activity, with 43.6% meeting vigorous exercise guidelines and 49.3% meeting muscle-strengthening guidelines, while maintaining a healthy average BMI.Moderate
- Stress is the most significant health impediment to academic performance for college students, reported by 31.6% of respondents.Moderate
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- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
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