Webb, HeatherStrawn, Shannon2018-02-062018-02-062017-08http://hdl.handle.net/1969.6/19205Non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, or type II diabetes, is a large and growing concern in the United States. Risk factors that contribute to this disease are largely mediated by lifestyle interventions such as improved diet, exercise, and overall weight loss. Identification of those at high risk for type II diabetes and implementation of risk reduction behaviors may prevent onset of the disease. This study seeks to investigate the effect education on the perceived risk of type II diabetes and intent to adopt healthier lifestyles in traditional-age college students. A total of 29 participants provided demographic information, physical activity level, anthropometric measures, and a blood sample. They also completed the Risk Perception Survey-Developing Diabetes (RPS-DD), perceived risk of diabetes visual-analogue scale (PRD-VAS), and the diabetes risk calculator (DRC), with 17 of these participants also providing information on their intent to change fitness behaviors. RMANOVAs assessed changes across time in the RPS-DD and PRD-VAS. Kendall’s tau-B correlations were conducted to examine relationships between the abovementioned variables. Data analysis revealed six participants at high risk for prediabetes and 12 with at least one risk factor for metabolic syndrome. RPS-DD risk and RPS-DD knowledge scores did not change across time, but analysis of the PRD-VAS indicated a significant change across time (p = 0.01). The DRC did not correlate with prediabetes nor metabolic syndrome. Further, analysis revealed significant interaction between prediabetes status and perceived risk (p = 0.04), but not between prediabetes risk and intent to adopt healthier lifestyle (p = 0.42). Significant correlations existed between metabolic syndrome and prediabetes risk (p = 0.03) as well as criteria for both diseases, excluding HbA1c (p = 0.15). The college students in this study possessed many risk factors for developing type II diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease. Those at high risk for such diseases demonstrated an understanding of their risk, but did not express an intent to modify their lifestyle behaviors. Further, the noninvasive prediabetes and diabetes risk calculator did not consistently identify these diseases in this population. Research should be dedicated to determining how to change perceived risk of developing type II diabetes, methods of promoting healthier lifestyles, and development of a validated noninvasive instrument for use among traditional-age college students.89 pagesen-UShttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/type ii diabetesrps ddprediabetesperceived riskmetabolic syndromediabetesText