Do CMU Undergrads Lead a Healthy Lifestyle?

1. Do CMU Undergrads Lead a Healthy Lifestyle? John Lee Meredith Powers Shamil Patel Dan Bruner 36-203 Sampling, Surveys, and Society April 26, 2001

2. Introduction • Why did we choose this subject? • What are the implications of this subject? • What are the future considerations for this subject?

3. Main Issues for Discussion • What percent of CMU undergrads are healthy when compared to official standards? • In which areas are students similar to the ideal and in which areas are they not? • Is there a difference among students of different years?

4. Criteria for a Healthy Student • Composition of diet • Sleep patterns • Intentional Physical Activity • Alcohol and Tobacco Use • Amount of Stress and Depression

5. Our Predictions • We predict that about ½ of all CMU students lead healthy lifestyles as determined by the standards we obtained • We also predict that seniors lead the healthiest lifestyles, followed by juniors, then sophomores, then freshmen

6. Sampling Information • Target Population: CMU Undergraduates • Sampling Frame: Ethan Tira-Thompson’s master e-mail list • Sampled Population: Random selection of students from list, stratified by year • Sample Size: Chose size 372 based on expected response rates and margin of error

7. Questionnaire Design and Implementation • Asked questions about respondent’s background, diet, exercise patterns, sleep patterns, alcohol and tobacco use, and stress and depression levels • Pilot study showed no major problems • Initial email sent out on April 14, first email follow-up sent out 3 days later, second email phase sent out 5 days after that, phone call phase initiated 2 days after that

8. Response Rates

9. Non-response Plot

10. College Distribution of Respondents

11. Distribution of Respondents by Year

12. Comparison of Total Meals to Meals on Campus

13. Comparison of On-Campus Meals by Year

14. Comparison of On-Campus Meals by Year (continued)

15. Comparison of On-Campus Meals (Summary)

16. Students’ Rating of Their Own Health

17. Comments Received from Respondents • I'd just like to mention that my situation is a bit different than most. I'm on the swim team and if you had sent me this survey 2 months ago, i would have given completely different answers. I'm not in season right now so I'm not really exercising but when i am i work out like 8 times a week and eat a lot more food. i just wanted to make this clear. • If I happen to accidentally get the free exercise card, you should probably select someone else to receive it. While I appreciate the thought, I know I'd never use it.

18. Comments Received from Respondents (continued) • This school sucks in everything • Most people here are very unhealthy due to stress and the inability to deal with personal problems due to the heavy workload. Also this campus is extremely hostile and antisocial. People's personal lives and relationships are often suffering at the expense of school. The depression rate is very high and I have known people who have made attempts on their lives. 

19. Comments Received From Respondents (continued) • The Survey didn't really ask too many interesting or useful questions.Maybe you could try to correlate homework load with free time to do athletic stuff. Maybe you could try and investigate that people are eating sh**ty food on campus because that's all that's available around here. Oh, and CMU should relocate to California and get a Road Cycling Team ! Thanks. Hope you get an A :-)

20. Group 2 Rules!!!!