The ability of students' social supports, such as friends from high school and family, to effectively lessen stress often wanes during students' transitions to postsecondary institutions. College, most often the best years of a student's life, at its first bloom (choosing a school) carries with it with high anxiety about changing location, routine and study habits; separation from friends; the learning environment; managing finances; and much more. On the positive side, college marks a period when new systems of social support are being created. Accurately predicting which students are likely to experience academic, personal, and social difficulties, or leave college before they graduate due to stress, would aid the creation and implementation of interventions targeted to specific cases. Studying student peer groups and the patterns within is the key to predicting which subgroups will be prone to what behaviors. The purpose of this study was to conduct a baseline investigation of African-American university students' health behaviors, self-rated health, mental health, and quality of life (QOL). The authors used a quality of life questionnaire that gauged the college student's health status, lifestyle, mental health, and living conditions, which would help identify certain subgroups of students at particular risk for certain types of depression, stress, health behaviors, mental health, and health habits while attending college. The results of this questionnaire provided an important snapshot of the current life styles, college life stresors, and health behaviors among male and female college students at an HBCU institution in North Carolina; and indicated that gender is an important determinant of the level of health risk behaviors for African-American students. (Contains 3 tables.)