Health Psychology Commons^™

Reverse Freshman Fifteen: A Qualitative Study, Ruth L. Markham, Taryn Viers, Ashley Laird, Ashley Dibert

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

The decision to make lifestyle changes as related to health cannot be easily summarized as it involves multiple areas of an individual's life. To examine some of these issues 15 college women who had intentionally experienced significant weight loss during their college years were questioned using a semi-structured interview technique. The interviews contained questions concerning how factors such as identity, motivation, habits, availability of resources, and priorities affected their conscious choice to pursue a healthier lifestyle. Transcriptions were coded and analyzed to determine commonalities in factors related to these lifestyle changes. Three common themes emerged which included having an active …