Eight Dimensions of Wellness: Undergraduate Student Behavior

Abstract

Background: Mental health and well-being are important public health issues. College students are vulnerable to mental health and other wellness issues as this population is often making lifestyle choices autonomously for the first time and many are balancing new responsibilities, priorities, and situations in life.

Aim: This study sought to gain an understanding of college students’ behavior when provided time and autonomy to focus on their wellness needs.

Methods: Students completed a self-selected activity that corresponded to a dimension of wellness. A chi-square goodness-of-fit test was performed to determine distribution of responses. A chi-square test of independence was performed to examine relationships between dimension of wellness and gender, year of enrollment, and the interaction of gender by year of enrollment.     

Results: All dimensions of wellness were reflected in student responses with physical, social, and emotional dimensions selected more frequently. A significant relationship was found between dimension of wellness and gender and the interaction effect of gender by year of enrollment. No significant relationship was found between dimension of wellness and year of enrollment.

Conclusions: This study highlights the need for diversity in wellness programming and provides valuable insights to optimize student support.