Aineiston nimi

University Student Health and Well-being Survey 2021

Aineiston rinnakkainen nimi

KOTT-survey

Aineistonumero

FSD3616

Pysyvät tunnisteet

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3616
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3616

Aineiston laatu

Kvantitatiivinen aineisto

Tekijät

• Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Sisällön kuvaus

This national survey examined the health and health-related behaviour of university and university of applied sciences (polytechnic) students in Finland. Questions covered, among other topics, physical, mental and dental health, health-related behaviour, use of health services, and satisfaction with health services. Factors related to the ability to study and well-being, such as social relationships and income, were also examined. The survey also included questions on the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing at the time. The study was funded by the Social Insurance Institution, the Ministry of Education and Culture, and the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare.

General state of health was charted with a number of questions relating to long-term illnesses, disabilities or disorders, and current well-being in general. The respondents were asked if they had suffered from a variety of symptoms in the previous month. Birth control methods used by the respondent and her/his partner within the previous month were surveyed. Some questions covered the respondents' weight, height, and attitude toward food. Psychological or social symptoms causing problems were investigated. Psychosocial health was further studied using items of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Use of healthcare services by different types of service providers and satisfaction with the services of the Finnish Student Health Service (FSHS) were surveyed, along with reasons for using the services of other healthcare service providers.

Time spent sitting during the day as well as engagement in sporting activities and less vigorous physical activities were surveyed. Eating habits were investigated with a number of questions, for instance, asking whether the respondents ate at student restaurants, what diet they followed, on how many days per week they ate certain meals or snacks (e.g. breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner), and the consumption of fruit and vegetables. The respondents were also asked how often they brushed or flossed their teeth and used toothpaste or xylitol products, and whether they had problems with teeth grinding, facial pain or jaw locking.

Health-related behaviour was further studied by asking the respondents about their use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco products (amount, frequency), as well as internet use and gambling. Drinking habits were further charted using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Internet use was examined with questions regarding the purposes for which respondents used the internet, and if it had caused problems with their circadian rhythm, studying or relationships. Questions also covered gambling and possible problems caused by it.

The survey also studied interpersonal relationships and financial circumstances. The respondents were asked about their household composition and living arrangements, partnerships, sexual orientation, use of contraception, bullying experienced during university studies, whether they felt lonely or part of a group, and whether they had someone close to them with whom they could discuss their affairs. The respondents were asked to evaluate their financial situation and how well they had managed financially over the previous 12 months. The respondents' participation in paid work during the academic year was also surveyed, and they were asked how working had affected their studies.

Views on family life were examined with questions on whether the respondents would like to have children in the future and when, and if not at the moment, why (e.g. their studies not being finished, being too young, financial situation, wanting to pursue a career). Those respondents who already had children were asked about how having a child had impacted their life (e.g. improvement in relationship with spouse, financial situation worsened, progressing with studies became harder).

The impact of the COVID-19 epidemic was surveyed with questions on how the epidemic or the subsequent restrictive measures had affected the respondents' studies, whether the pandemic had negatively affected the respondents' financial situation, and whether the pandemic or the subsequent restrictive measures had affected certain areas of the respondents' everyday lives (e.g. substance use, sleeping difficulties, keeping in touch with friends and relatives, contact with fellow students, feeling optimistic about the future).

Indicator variables created by the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare and based on some original survey variables are included in the data. Some indicators are based on the following measurements: General Health Questionnaire 12 (GHQ-12), Mental Health Inventory 5 (MHI-5), SCOFF = eating disorder risk, Body Mass Index (BMI), Compulsive Internet Use Scale 5 (CIUS-5), Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Concise (AUDIT-C), and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-1k = binge drinking (AUDIT-1k).

Background variables included the respondent's age, gender, field of study, height, weight, whether they attended a university or a university of applied sciences, and the year the respondent started their studies.

Asiasanat

COVID-19; access to health services; alcohol use; dental health; diet and exercise; dietary habits; exercise (physical activity); health services; health status; mental disorders; sexual behaviour; sexual health; smoking; students (college); substance use; symptoms

Tieteenala/Aihealue

• Medical and health sciences (OKM:n tieteenalaluokitus)
• Social sciences (OKM:n tieteenalaluokitus)
• Higher and further education (CESSDAn aihepiiriluokitus)
• Diet and nutrition (CESSDAn aihepiiriluokitus)
• Drug abuse, alcohol and smoking (CESSDAn aihepiiriluokitus)
• General health and well-being (CESSDAn aihepiiriluokitus)
• Health care services and policies (CESSDAn aihepiiriluokitus)
• Physical fitness and exercise (CESSDAn aihepiiriluokitus)
• Reproductive health (CESSDAn aihepiiriluokitus)

Sarja

University Student Health Surveys

Jakelija

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Käyttöoikeudet

The dataset is (C) available only for research including master's theses.

Kerääjät

• Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare

Ajallinen kattavuus

2021

Aineistonkeruun ajankohta

2021-02 – 2021-03

Maa

Finland

Kohdealue

Finland

Havaintoyksikkötyyppi

Individual

Perusjoukko/otos

Undergraduates aged 18-34 in Finnish universities and universities of applied sciences who were registered as attending during spring term 2021 and had a Finnish personal identity code

Tutkimuksen aikaulottuvuus

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Otantamenetelmä

Probability: Stratified: Disproportional

The sample consisted of approximately 12,000 students (approximately 6,000 university students and 6,000 university of applied sciences students). The sampling method was disproportional stratified sampling, with the sample being split into higher education institution specific strata. The sampling rate for each higher education institution specific stratum was determined so that the sample size per institution was larger the more students the institution had. For universities of applied sciences, each stratum included at least 150 students and a maximum of 400 students. For universities, each stratum included at least 150 students and a maximum of 800 students. The sample was extracted from the VIRTA higher education achievement register by IT Center for Science (CSC).

An invitation to participate in the study was sent to the respondents by email, with up to two reminder messages sent by email and/or text message. The overall response rate was 53% (n=6258). The response rate for men was 44% (n= 2392) and the response rate for women was 60% (n=3866). Response rates by age group were as follows: 60% (n=1565) for the 18-21 age group, 55% (n=2294) for the 22-24 age group, 47% (n=1760) for the 25-29 age group, and 46% (n=639) for the 30-34 age group. The response rate for university of applied sciences students was 49% (n=2925), and the response rate for university students was 56% (n=3333).

Keruumenetelmä

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Keruuväline tai –ohje

Structured questionnaire

Vastausprosentti

53

Datatiedostojen kieli

Aineistopaketti voi sisältää samoja tiedostoja eri kielisinä.

Aineisto sisältää datatiedostoja seuraavilla kielillä: suomi ja englanti.

Tietoarkisto kääntää kvantitatiivisia datatiedostoja englanniksi. Lisätietoja käännöspyynnön jättämisestä.

Havaintojen ja muuttujien lukumäärä

351 muuttujaa ja 6258 havaintoa.

Datan versio

2.0

Aineiston käytössä huomioitavaa

During archiving all open-ended questions of the type "Other, please specify" and the variable concerning the respondent's sexual orientation were removed from the data. The field of study variable (bv4) was coarsened in the following manner: medicine was merged with heath sciences; the fields of culture, arts, humanities and social sciences were merged into one field; the fields of natural sciences, agriculture and forestry, information techonology and communication sciences were merged into one field. Background variables were categorised. Height and weight were coded into separate variables for men and women and the largest and smallest values were categorised.

The data delivered to FSD did not include variables k66_1-k66_12, which concern the respondents' relationship with their studies.

Painokertoimet

The data contain four weight variables: rg_strat, w_analys, rg_n, w_expans. Response rates to the study varied based on different background variables (e.g. age, gender, whether the respondent was a university student or a university of applied sciences student). As a result of the disproportional stratified sampling, individuals had different probabilities of being included in the study. For these reasons, results calculated directly from the data are erroneous and do not represent the student population, thus weighting coefficients were used to correct the data for sampling and nonresponse. The weighting coefficients were created using inverse probability weighting (IPW) based on a logistic regression model. The weighting coefficients take into account sampling and nonresponse (register data available for the entire sample were used to account for nonresponse). The weights have been scaled to be representative of the student population. More information on the use of weighting coefficients can be found on the Finnish Health and Welfare Institute website (in Finnish): https://thl.fi/fi/tutkimus-ja-kehittaminen/tutkimukset-ja-hankkeet/korkeakouluopiskelijoiden-terveys-ja-hyvinvointitutkimus-kott-/tietoa-tutkijoille

Viittausvaatimus

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Malliviittaus

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare: University Student Health and Well-being Survey 2021 [dataset]. Data version 2.0 (2024-04-12). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3616; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3616

Julkaisusta tiedottaminen

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Varaumat

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Käytön ja kuvailun oheismateriaalit

Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare: The Finnish Student Health and Wellbeing (KOTT) website. https://thl.fi/en/web/thlfi-en/research-and-development/research-and-projects/the-finnish-student-health-and-wellbeing-survey-kott-.

Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare: KOTT 2021 survey results (in Finnish). https://terveytemme.fi/kott/tulokset/index.html.

Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare: KOTT 2021 press release. https://thl.fi/en/web/thlfi-en/-/remote-studies-and-loneliness-have-put-a-strain-on-higher-education-students.

Julkaisut aineistosta

Parikka S, Holm N, Ikonen J, Koskela T, Kilpeläinen H, & Lundqvist A. Korkeakouluopiskelijoiden mielenterveys, elintavat ja opiskeluryhmään kuuluminen. KOTT 2021-tutkimuksen tuloksia [verkkodokumentti]. Helsinki: Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos. https://thl.fi/documents/10531/5589167/KOTT2021-tutkimuksen+perustulokset.pdf/ [viitattu 21.12.2021]

Parikka S, Holm N, Ikonen J, Koskela T, Kilpeläinen H & Lundqvist A. KOTT 2021-tutkimuksen perustulokset 2021. Verkkojulkaisu: www.terveytemme.fi/kott.

Parikka S., Ikonen J., Koskela T., Marjeta N., Kilpeläinen H., Pietilä A., Härkänen T. & Lundqvist A. Koronaepidemian ja sen rajaamistoimien vaikutukset korkeakouluopiskelijoiden arkielämään ja opintoihin. KOTT-tutkimuksen ennakkotuloksia kesällä 2021 [verkkodokumentti]. Helsinki: Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos. (https://thl.fi/documents/10531/5589167/KOTT_koronan_vaikutukset_kesa2021.pdf/890a7281-478e-b9e5-3e6a-1ae551304ab9?t=1623831946015)

Parikka S, Holm N, Koskela T, Ikonen J, Kilpeläinen H (2022). Korkeakouluopiskelijoiden terveys- ja hyvinvointitutkimus 2021 : Tutkimuksen toteutus ja menetelmät. Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos. Työpaperi 17/2022. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-343-859-0

Parikka S, Koskela T, Hietajärvi L, Ikonen J & Salmela-Aro K (2022). Koronaepidemian vaikutukset eri väestöryhmien hyvinvointiin ja palveluihin: Korkeakouluopiskelijat. Teoksessa Covid-19-epidemian vaikutukset hyvinvointiin, palvelujärjestelmään ja kansantalouteen. Asiantuntija-arvio, kevät 2022 (toim. Kestilä L, Kapiainen S, Mesiäislehto M & Rissanen P. Helsinki: Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos. https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-343-865-1

Lappalainen, Milla (2024). Syömishäiriöoireiluun yhteydessä olevat tekijät suomalaisilla korkeakouluopiskelijoilla. Tampere: Tampereen yliopisto. Yhteiskuntatieteiden tiedekunta. Kansanterveystieteen pro gradu -tutkielma.

Kotilainen, T. & Remes, R. (2024). Korkeakouluopiskelijoiden taloudellisten huolien yhteys keskittymisvaikeuksiin ja masennus yhteyttä välittävänä tekijänä. Pro gradu-tutkielma. Itä-Suomen yliopisto. Filosofinen tiedekunta, Kasvatustieteiden ja psykologian osasto, Psykologia. http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:uef-20241556

Hokkanen, Meri (2024). Taloudellisen tilanteen yhteys omillaan asuvien korkeakouluopiskelijoiden kasvisten syöntiin : korkeakouluopiskelijoiden terveystutkimuksen vuoden 2021 tuloksia. Terveyskasvatuksen pro gradu -tutkielma. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän yliopisto.

Barzoki, Meysam and Toikko, Timo (2025) Family intimacy and depression: a comparative study among adolescents in Finland. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 79(1), 70-78.

Barzoki, Meysam. H. (2024). Depression and excessive internet use: The mediating roles of anxiety and intellectual difficulties. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 16, 100512.

Palomäki J., Castrén S., Männikkö N., Latvala T. (2025). Gambling and other addictive behaviors among higher education students in Finland - insights from a large-scale survey. Front. Psychol. 16:1529051.

Koskenvuo, K., Ikonen, J. & Parikka, S. (2024). Kliinisesti merkittävä psyykkinen kuormittuneisuus on yhteydessä opiskelukykyä tukevien Kelan kuntoutuspalvelujen tarpeeseen korkeakouluopiskelijoilla.Kuntoutus, 47(4), 6-16.

Männikkö, N., Palomäki, J., Parikka, S., Määttänen, I., Castren, S. (2024). Establishing Academic Burnout's Relationship with Problematic Internet Use and Specific Health-Risk Behaviours: A Cross-sectional Study of Finnish Higher Education Students.Int J Ment Health Addiction 2024.

Raitasalo, K., Karjalainen, K., Ollila, H., & Palomäki, J. (2024). Suomalaisten korkeakouluopiskelijoiden päihteiden käyttö vuonna 2021: KOTT-tutkimuksen tuloksia. Sosiaalilääketieteellinen Aikakauslehti, 61(4).