This review of alcohol use and abuse in college students presents a summary of the relationships between college student alcohol use and demographic and individual characteristics. A summary of the findings suggests two distinct patterns of alcohol use. For some demographic groups, heavy drinking may be most associated with personal problems, while for others it may be more associated with social and environmental factors. Suggestions for future research of this important issue are presented.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of experimental demand characteristics and social expectancies on the report and experience of presumed menstrual cycle-related moods and symptoms. Participating in the study were 18 healthy women with regular menstrual cycles who were randomly assigned to either a group told that menstrual cycle symptomatology was the focus of the study or a group to which no interest in menstrual cycle symptoms was communicated. Nine males were also included as a control group. Results indicated that women who were informed of the interest in menstrual cycle symptomatology reported significantly more negative psychologic and somatic symptoms at the premenstrual and menstrual phases than did the women and men not so informed. It appears, therefore, that the report of stereotypic menstrual cycle symptomatology is influenced by social expectancy and experimental demand characteristics.

This review of alcohol use and abuse in college students presents a summary of the relationships between college student alcohol use and social/environment characteristics. A theoretical integration of the findings of this review with those of Part I of this series supports the prior paper's finding of two patterns of college drinking. This review further suggests that the two types may have differential predictive ability with regard to future problem drinking. Methodological issues in this type of research are reviewed and implications for intervention are considered.

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