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Objective: To explore young adult's experiences of how starting university influenced their physical activity, diet, sleep, and mental well-being, and barriers and enablers to health behavior change. Participants: University students aged 18-25 years. Methods: Three focus groups were conducted in November 2019. Inductive thematic approach was utilized to identify themes. Results: Students (female: n = 13, male: n = 2, other gender identity: n = 1, 21.2 (1.6) years) reported mental well-being, physical activity levels, diet quality and sleep health were negatively affected. Stress, study demands, university timetabling, not prioritizing physical activity, cost and availability of healthy foods, and difficulty falling asleep were key barriers. Health behavior change interventions aiming to support mental well-being need to include both information and support features. Conclusions: There is a significant opportunity to improve the transition to university for young adults. Findings highlight areas to target in future interventions to improve physical activity, diet, and sleep of university students.

Physical activity (PA) participation declines from adolescence to young adulthood. This review evaluates the effectiveness of interventions aiming to improve PA among healthy young adults (17-35 years), and the effectiveness of the behaviour change techniques (BCTs) used. Six electronic databases were searched up to December 2019, for randomized controlled trials aiming to achieve PA behaviour change among young adults. In total, 66 RCTs were included. Meta-analyses for moderate-vigorous PA (n = 11 studies), steps (n = 5 studies) and total PA (MET min/week, n = 11 studies) identified that intervention participants compared with control significantly increased PA at time points up to 3 months and >3 months. Narrative synthesis identified that 34 RCTs (52%) reported significant between group differences favouring the intervention for one or more PA outcome. BCTs with the highest effectiveness were material reward, valued self-identity and habit formation. However, the overall test of significance demonstrated no significant relationship between type or number of BCTs and effectiveness. This review identified interventions that improve steps, moderate-vigorous and total PA in young adults in the shorter-term, and BCTs associated with greater effectiveness. Further research is needed to determine strategies to achieve longer-term effectiveness of PA interventions in young adults.