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...on substance abuse and the college campus

www.ProjectCork.org

Spring 2003

The reliability of environmental measures of the college alcohol environment.

Clapp JD; Whitney M; Shillington AM. Journal of Drug Education 32(4): 287-301, 2002. (25 refs.)
Much of what we know about students'. drinking patterns and problems related to alcohol use is based on survey research. Although local and national survey data are important to alcohol-prevention projects, they do not sufficiently capture the complexity of the alcohol environment. Environmental prevention approaches to alcohol-related problems have been shown to be effective in community settings and researchers have begun to study and adapt such approaches for use on college campuses. Many environmental approaches require systematic scanning of the campus alcohol environment. This study assessed the inter-rater reliability of two environmental scanning tools (a newspaper content analysis form and a bulletin analysis form) designed to identify alcohol-related advertisements targeting college students. Inter-rater reliability for these forms varied across different rating categories and ranged from poor to excellent. Suggestions for future research are addressed.

High risk behaviors in a sample of Mexican-American college students.

Fierros-Gonzalez R; Brown JM. Psychological Reports 90(1): 117-130, 2002. (35 refs.) This study explored different types of high risk behaviors of Mexican-American college students attending a small university in south Texas. High risk behaviors for contracting HIV/AIDS examined in this study included unprotected sex, drug use, and alcohol abuse. In 1995 in the United States, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death in the people between the ages of 25 and 44. Because use of alcohol and certain recreational drugs lowers inhibitions, their use could increase the possibility of having unprotected and unplanned sex with multiple partners. Thus, it was expected that Mexican-American college students who use drugs and alcohol would be more likely to engage in unprotected sex. Data were from 105 men and 211 women between the ages of 18 and 30 years. Drug use and alcohol abuse were significantly associated with high risk sexual behavior. Individuals in monogamous relationships were more likely to not use condoms than those involved in casual relationships. Self-reported religiosity was not correlated with high risk behaviors, although there were implications that stronger religious affiliation did alter sexual beliefs and practices. Lastly, parental communication was not significantly associated with high risk behaviors, but family unity did seem related to some risky sexual practices.

Attendance and alcohol use at parties and bars in college: A national survey of current drinkers.

Harford TC; Wechsler H; Seibring M. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 63(6): 726-733, 2002. (39 refs.)
Objective: This study examines attendance and alcohol use at parties and bars among college students by gender, residence, year in school and legal drinking age. Method: The study participants were respondents in the 1997 and 1999 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS). The combined sample consisted of 12,830 students (61% women) who reported use of alcohol in the past 30 days prior to interview. Their responses provided information on attendance and alcohol use at parties (dormitory, fraternity, off campus) and off campus bars. Logistic regression analyses examined the influence of gender, residence, year in school and legal drinking age related to attendance, drinking/non-drinking and heavy drinking (5 or more drinks) at each select setting. Results: Consistent with the literature, fraternity/ sorority parties were occasions of heavy drinking (49%) among drinkers in those settings, yet they drew upon smaller proportions of students (36%) when compared to off-campus parties (75%) and off-campus bars (68%). Off-campus parties (45%) and bars (37%) were also occasions for heavy drinking among drinkers in these settings. College residence was shown to relate to differential exposure to drinking settings, but residence had less impact on the decision to drink and the level of heavy drinking. Attendance at parties decreased with advance in school years, but attendance at off-campus bars increased. Although heavy drinking at off-campus bars decreased with advancing grade year in school, slightly higher proportions of under-age students (41%) compared to students of legal drinking age (35%) exhibited heavy drinking at off-campus bars. Conclusions: The identification of high-risk settings and their correlates serves to better understand the development of heavy drinking on college campuses. Off-campus parties, as compared to campus parties and bars, may pose greater difficulties related to successful intervention.

An experimental assessment of the effects of two alcoholic beverage health warnings across countries and binge-drinking status.

Creyer EH; Kozup JC; Burton S. Journal of Consumer Affairs 36(2): 171-202, 2002. (35 refs.)
In recent years, alcohol-related problems on college campuses have been well documented. This research examines how two different alcoholic beverage health warnings placed on the label of a fictitious brand of beer influence alcohol-related-risk perceptions, attitudes and intentions, and characterizations of problem-drinking behaviors of binge and non-binge drinkers in Australia and the United States. The consumer welfare implications of our findings, which show that the dependent measures are influenced by both main and interaction effects, are discussed.

More Canadian students drink but American students drink more: Comparing college alcohol use in two countries.

Kuo M; Adlaf EM; Lee H; Gliksman L; Demers A; Wechsler H. Addiction 97(12): 1583-1592, 2002. (36 refs.)
Aims To compare alcohol use among US and Canadian college students. Design Results of the 1999 College Alcohol Study and the 1998 Canadian Campus Survey are compared. Setting One hundred and nineteen nationally representative US 4-year colleges and universities in 40 states and 16 nationally representative Canadian 4-year universities. Participants Randomly selected students under 25 years (12 344 US and 6729 Canadian). Measurements Self-reports of alcohol use and heavy alcohol use. Findings The prevalence of life-time and past year alcohol use is significantly higher among Canadian students than US students (92% versus 86%, 87% versus 81%). The prevalence of heavy alcohol use (typically consuming five or more drinks in a row for males/four or more for females) among past-year and past-week drinkers is significantly higher among US students than Canadian students (41% versus 35%, 54% versus 42%). In both countries younger students and students living at home with their parents are less likely to be heavy drinkers; students who report first drunkenness before the age of 16 are more likely to be heavy drinkers in college. Conclusion Programs aimed at students' heavy alcohol use should target freshman at entry or earlier. Since students living with their parents are less likely to be heavy drinkers, parents may play a potentially important role in prevention efforts. The patterns of drinking in both countries may be influenced by the legal minimum drinking age. However, the relationship is complex and must be viewed in the context of other variables such as chronological age.

Binge drinking in Jewish and non-Jewish white college students.

Luczak SE; Shea SH; Carr LG; Li TK; Wall TL. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research 26(12): 1773-1778, 2002. (53 refs.)
Background: In the United States, religious commitment, as measured by service attendance, has an inverse relationship with alcohol consumption, heavy use, and problem use. This association, however, has not been found consistently in Jewish Americans. The present study examined the relationship between religious variables and binge drinking in Jewish and non-Jewish white college students. In addition, the association among genetic, cultural, and religious variables and binge drinking was examined in the Jewish sample alone. Methods: Participants were 132 Jewish and 147 non-Jewish white college students. All participants completed the Time-Line Follow-Back, had blood drawn for genotyping at the alcohol dehydrogenase locus ADH2, and reported their religious affiliation and the number of religious services attended in the past year. Jewish subjects also completed the Jewish Identity Scale. Results: As hypothesized, more frequent religious service attendance related to lower rates of binge drinking in non-Jews but was not related to binge drinking in Jews. Within the Jewish sample, individuals who were religiously affiliated had approximately one third the risk of binge drinking as those who were secularly affiliated, but identification with Jewish culture was not related to binge drinking. In the total sample, individuals who possessed a variant alcohol dehydrogenase allele ADH2*2 were approximately half as likely to binge drink as those who did not possess this allele. Conclusions: These results are consistent with previous studies that find an inverse relationship between religious service attendance and heavy alcohol use in Christian but not Jewish college students. Findings within the Jewish sample support theories that suggest religious, not just cultural, Jewish affiliation relates to lower levels of alcohol behavior. More research is needed to identify additional factors, including other religious, cultural, genetic, and biological influences, that protect Jewish Americans from heavy drinking.

Guns and gun threats at college.

Miller M; Hemenway D; Wechsler H. Journal of American College Health 51(2): 57-65, 2002. (44 refs.)
A random sample of more than 10,000 undergraduate students, selected from 119 4-year colleges, answered a mailed questionnaire about gun possession and gun threats. Approximately 4.3% of the students reported that they had a working firearm at college, and 1.6% of them have been threatened with a gun while at school. Students are more likely to have a firearm at college and to be threatened with a gun while at college if they are male, live off campus, binge drink, engage in risky and aggressive behavior after drinking, and attend institutions in regions of the United States where household firearm prevalence is high. Having a firearm for protection is also strongly associated with being threatened with a gun while at college. Students who reported having firearms at college disproportionately reported that they engaged in behaviors that put themselves and others at risk for injury.

Taking up binge drinking in college: The influences of person, social group, and environment.

Weitzman ER; Nelson TF; Wechsler H. Journal of Adolescent Health 32(1): 26-35, 2003. (38 refs.)
Purpose: To identify person, social group, and environmental factors associated with uptake of binge drinking among a national sample of college students. Methods: Using self-reported responses of students in the 1999 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS), we regressed conceptually important predictors of binge drinking onto a dichotomized variable describing uptake in the freshman year. This was a random sample of full-time undergraduates provided by the registrar at each participant school (n = 119). For this study, we analyzed data describing a subset of the total sample comprising first year students aged less than or equal to19 years, excluding transfers (n = 1894). The student CAS is a 20-page voluntary, anonymous mailed questionnaire containing student reports about their alcohol and substance use, school activities, and background characteristics. Analyses included univariate and multivariate logistic regression adjusting for school response rate and using the Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) in the Statistical Analysis Software package to handle the within-college clustering owing to the sampling scheme. Results: College students who reported that they were exposed to "wet" environments were more likely to engage in binge drinking than were their peers without similar exposures. Wet environments included social, residential, and market surroundings in which drinking is prevalent and alcohol cheap and easily accessed. Findings held up in multivariate analyses that included variables describing person and social group characteristics. Students who picked up binge drinking in college also were more likely than their peers to report inflated definitions of binge drinking and more permissive attitudes about appropriate ages for legal consumption. Conclusions: Binge drinking can either be acquired or avoided in college among students who report they did not binge drink in high school. Reducing college binge uptake may require efforts to limit access/availability, control cheap prices, and maximize substance free environments and associations.

College drinking, what it is, and what to do about it: A review of the state of the science.

Goldman MS; Boyd GM; Faden V eds. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 63(Supplement 14): 1-240 (entire issue), 2002. (Article refs.)
To address the consequences of college students' alcohol consumption the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) established the Task Force on College Drinking in 1998. It included several different task force. Panel 1 focused upon the contexts and consequences of college drinking. Panel 2 addressed prevention and treatment. These panels commissioned review papers to inform discussion and assist in preparing a final report. The 18 articles in this special issue are adapted from the commissioned papers. They touch upon identification, treatment and prevention, different prevention initiatives, the college campus, and special concerns for the campus community.

Relationships between binge drinking and substance-free reinforcement in a sample of college students: A preliminary investigation. (rapid communication) .

Correia CJ; Carey KB; Simons J; Borsari BE. Addictive Behaviors 28(2): 361-368, 2003. (9 refs.)
Heavy episodic drinking is a relatively common phenomenon among college students, and students who engage in binge drinking are at increased risk for a variety of adverse consequences. This paper investigates relationships between substance use and reinforcement derived from specific categories of substance-free activities among a sample of 256 college undergraduates. Data from a standardized behavioral inventory were used to compare the frequency, pleasure, and reinforcement potential of substance-free events and activities experienced by binge drinkers and a comparison group. Binge drinkers reported significantly lower scores across a variety of substance-free activity categories and, in the majority of the cases, the relationship between binge drinking and decreased reinforcement density remained significant after accounting for the effects of the use of other drugs and demographic variables. These results are consistent with a growing body of evidence linking substance use to deprivation of substance-free reinforcement.

Feelings of regret: Exploring the links between perceived risk and consequences of alcohol use among college students.

Cleveland MJ; Cychosz CM. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 73(Supplement): A22, 2002. (0 refs.)
This study examined which specific consequences of alcohol use were most closely linked to feelings of regret. Data were drawn from two small, private colleges, using a survey instrument that addresses demographics, patterns of alcohol use, attitudes, motives for use, and alcohol-related consequences. Data were collected from 1,199 participants. Of these, 739 reported 1 or more drinks per week and were included in further analysis. Four factors explained 54.45 percent of the variance: (a) "Acting Out"; (b) "Psychological Problem"; (c) "Sexual Advantage"; and (d) "Police Involvement." Further analysis was conducted to explore differences among five weekly drinking levels for each of the ten individual items included in the "Acting Out" factor. Multivariate analysis revealed significant overall effects for drinking group, as did univariate analyses for each of the individual items in the factor. Separate post hoc analyses of marginal means for each of the 10 items indicated the only item that followed the pattern of "later regretted action" was "driven under influence." "Regret" tracked most closely with driven under influence, a socially sanctioned phenomenon. Level of regret deviated from patterns of use for other, seemingly more salient consequences like hangover and missing class. The findings suggest that norms and sanctions may be more important than some have thought in programs designed to increase perceived risk of alcohol use.