ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to describe and understand the lifestyles of non-obese female college students with high body fat (HBF).MethodsThe interview data were collected from 18 female students [body mass index (BMI) <23 kg/m2 and body fat ratio ≥30%] and analyzed by using descriptive phenomenology of Colaizzi. The procedural steps described the phenomenon of interest, collected participants' descriptions of the phenomenon, extracted the meaning of significant statements, organized the meanings into clusters, wrote exhaustive descriptions and then incorporated data into an exhaustive description.ResultsThe results in 153 restatements, 36 constructed meanings, 22 themes, seven theme clusters, and three categories were deduced. The three categories were: diminished daily concerns of health, changes in living habits by stressors, and perceived unbalance in health.ConclusionThis study describes non-obese female university students' experiences with HBF and their lifestyles. The findings have important implications for health promotion for non-obese female university students with HBF and must be considered when developing education courses for preparing adults.

Purpose: This study was to develop a Health Dieting Competency (HDC) scale to assess self-rated health dieting competence of college students. Methods: The scale was developed as follows: items generated, and tests of validity and reliability. Items were developed through a literature review, review of instruments, and interviews. A panel of four experts reviewed the scale for content validity. Factor analysis, Pearson correlation, descriptive statistics and Cronbach's ⍺ were used to analyze the data (N=183). Results: In the preliminary stage, thirty-three items were generated. Final items were fourteen that were selected through exploratory factor analysis. The HDC scale was consisted with five factors and fourteen items that were Goal-Directed (5-items), Health Support (2-items), Health Self-Efficacy (3-items), Health Perception (2-items), and Escaping from Health (2-items). The internal consistency of HDC as measured by Cronbach's ⍺ was .78. Conclusion: Content validity, construct validity, and reliability of the HDC were established. The HDC scale is a reliable and valid instrument for early adulthood youth who are willing to assess health dieting competency. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc/3.0), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.