Aineiston nimi

Finnish Student Health and Wellbeing Survey 2024

Aineistonumero

FSD3970

Pysyvät tunnisteet

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3970
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3970

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.

First, the respondents were asked about their sense of safety, confidence in the future, and ability to cope in crisis situations. 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. Birth control methods used by the respondent and her/his partner within the previous 12 months were surveyed. Some questions covered the respondents' weight, height, state of mind and attitude toward food. 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. Internet use was examined by asking 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, 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).

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: SCOFF = eating disorder risk, Mental Health Inventory 5 (MHI-5), 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

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

Rahoittajat

• Ministry of Education and Culture

Ajallinen kattavuus

2024

Aineistonkeruun ajankohta

2024-03-18 – 2024-04-30

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 2024 and had a Finnish personal identity code, and persons from the 2021 study sample who were still studying and registered as attending for the spring term of 2024.

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). In addition, persons from the 2021 study sample who were still studying and registered as attending for the spring term of 2024 were included in the sample (total n = 4,838).

An invitation to participate in the study was sent to the respondents by email, with up to three reminder messages sent by email and/or text message. The overall response rate was 31% (n=3,639). The response rate for men was 25% (n=1,326) and the response rate for women was 36% (n=2,313). Response rates by age group were as follows: 34% (n=817) for the 18-21 age group, 31% (n=1,310) for the 22-24 age group, 28% (n=1,076) for the 25-29 age group, and 29% (n=436) for the 30-34 age group. The response rate for university of applied sciences students was 27% (n=1,602), and the response rate for university students was 34% (n=2,037).

Keruumenetelmä

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Keruuväline tai –ohje

Structured questionnaire

Vastausprosentti

31

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

333 muuttujaa ja 3639 havaintoa.

Datan versio

2.0

Aineiston käytössä huomioitavaa

To prevent identification of respondents, the researchers removed from the data variables concerning the respondent's educational institution, mother tongue, and nationality, as well as variables related to walking, vision, and hearing difficulties, numbers related to drug use, variables concerning gender identity and sexual orientation, and open-ended responses. Additionally, they removed variables related to rare diseases. The researchers categorised the respondents' age and number of credits earned. Furthermore, they coarsened the field of study variable in the following manner: medicine was merged with health sciences; the fields of culture, arts, humanities and social sciences were merged into one field; the fields of natural sciences, agriculture and forestry, information technology and communication sciences were merged into one field. The researchers also categorised the largest and smallest values of weight and height variables and bottom-coded the year of study commencement.

Due to copyright issues variables concerning the question set on study burnout and study engagement (K57) have been removed from the data at FSD.

To prevent identification of respondents, the constructed variables related to difficulties in walking, seeing, and hearing have been removed from the data at FSD.

The data delivered to FSD do not include variables concerning the Mini-SPIN question set due to copyright issues.

Painokertoimet

The data contain four weight variables: rg_n, rg_stratum, w_analysis, w_expansion. 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: Finnish Student Health and Wellbeing Survey 2024 [dataset]. Data version 2.0 (2025-06-25). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd3970; URN: https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3970

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 for Health and Welfare: The Finnish Student Health and Wellbeing (KOTT) website. https://thl.fi/en/research-and-development/research-and-projects/the-finnish-student-health-and-wellbeing-survey-kott-/results-of-the-kott-survey. Cited 24.6.2025.

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare: Finnish Student Health and Wellbeing Survey (KOTT) 2024: Indicators in tables (in Finnish) https://www.thl.fi/kott_verkkoraportit/taulukot_2024/index.html. Cited 24.6.2025.

Julkaisut aineistosta

Parikka S, Ikonen J, Pohjola V, Koskela T, Kilpeläinen H, Sarttila K, Lundqvist A. (2024). KOTT 2024 -tutkimuksen perustulokset 2024. Verkkojulkaisu: thl.fi/kott.

Ollila, H., Ruokolainen, O., & Ikonen, J. (2024). Nikotiinipussien käyttö korkeakouluopiskelijoilla. Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos THL.

Parikka, Suvi & Ikonen, Jonna & Pohjola, Valtteri & Koskela, Timo & Lundqvist, Annamari (2024). Korkeakouluopiskelijoiden terveys- ja hyvinvointitutkimus (KOTT) 2024: Tutkimuksen perusraportoinnin aineistojen ja tulosten lyhyt menetelmäkuvaus. Helsinki: Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos. https://www.thl.fi/kott_verkkoraportit/taulukot_2024/menetelmakuvaus.html [viitattu 16.4.2025].