While alcohol remains the drug of choice for most college students, national data show that 40% of college students also use other substances (e.g., marijuana, cocaine, etc.). Longitudinal studies indicate that students who report use of both alcohol and other substances experience more consequences (e.g., blackout, arrests). The current study expands upon this research by using a multi-level approach to examine average and event-level alcohol combined with other substance use (ALC+) and its role on consequences experienced. In addition, the research examined which substance combined with alcohol posed the most risk. A total of 461 students reported on alcohol use, substance use, and consequences experienced (e.g., YAACQ) on 12 weekend nights (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) across 4 weekends in an academic year. Multilevel model analyses revealed a positive association between both average and event-level ALC+ use and the number of consequences experienced. A significant cross-level interaction was also revealed indicating students who typically combine alcohol and other substances experienced more consequences on occasions when they use more substances relative to students who typically use alcohol only. Finally, alcohol plus nicotine, or marijuana, or ADHD medications, or cocaine were all significantly positively related to increased consequences. These findings provide consistent evidence that ALC+ use is a highly prevalent behavior among college students that increases risk of problematic consequences.
ABSTRACT. Objective:Despite showing reductions in college student drinking, interventions have shown some inconsistency in their ability to successfully decrease consequences. With the goal of improving prevention efforts, the purpose of this study was to examine the role of consequence-specific constructs, in addition to drinking, that influence students' experiences with alcohol-related problems. The study examined how drinking and protective behaviors mediated the relationships between students' willingness to experience consequences, intentions to avoid them, and four categories of alcohol-related problems (physiological, social, sexual, and academic). Method: First-year college student drinkers (n = 2,024) at a large northeastern university completed surveys during the fall and spring of their freshman year. Results: As expected, different patterns of associations emerged for physiological and nonphysiological consequences. When physiological consequences (e.g., hangover, vomiting) were examined, drinking significantly mediated the effect of willingness on the consequences. Drinking-specific protective behaviors indirectly influenced consequences through drinking behaviors whereas general protective behaviors did not. When nonphysiological (e.g., social, sexual, academic) consequences were examined, drinking and general protective behaviors emerged as significant mediators of the effects of willingness and intentions on the consequences, whereas drinking-specific protective behaviors did not. Conclusions: The results suggest that prevention efforts (e.g., personalized feedback) could be tailored to address specific types of protective behaviors as well as specific types of consequences frequently experienced by college students. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 76, 862-871, 2015)
Positive parenting behaviors and parental modeling of alcohol use are consistent predictors of offspring’s alcohol use. Recent research extends these findings to emerging adult children and confirms continued parental influence beyond adolescence. This paper examines how maternal warmth and supervision moderate the effects of mother’s heavy alcohol use on their offspring’s alcohol use among a sample of non-college-attending emerging adults. Three-way interactions were used to examine if these moderating effects differed between emerging adults who lived at home and those with other living arrangements. Separate analyses within gender were used to further examine these associations. Participants were 245 emerging adults between ages 18–22 years with no post-secondary education (59% female) who were selected from a national probability-based Internet panel. Path analyses indicated that, regardless of living arrangements, male emerging adults who were more likely to witness their mother getting drunk were themselves more likely to engage in risky drinking. However, among female emerging adults, similarity between mothers’ and daughters’ drunkenness was strongest among participants who resided with their family and also reported low levels of maternal warmth. This study extends previous research by indicating that the effects of maternal modeling of heavy alcohol use on emerging adults’ heavy alcohol use depend upon several factors, including the gender of the child and the family context. Implications of the study findings are discussed in terms of expanding the scope of a parent-based intervention (PBI) to all emerging adults, including those who do not attend colleges or universities.
This article presents research included in the symposium at the 2001 Research Society on Alcoholism meeting in Montreal, Canada. James Lange was the organizer and provided the introduction of this article. Gayle Boyd was the chairperson, and Mary Larimer was the discussant. The presentations were (1) Defining binge-drinking quantities through resulting BACs, by James E. Lange and Robert B. Voas; (2) Environmental predictors of heavy episodic drinking events, by John D. Clapp; (3) Parents' continuing role in college binge drinking, by Rob Turrisi, Racheal Taki, and James Jaccard; and (4) Motivations of binge drinkers, by Mark B. Johnson, Robert B. Voas, and James E. Lange. The summary and discussion were provided by Mary Larimer.
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