Examination of the mediational influences of peer norms, environmental influences, and parent communications on heavy drinking in athletes and nonathletes.

Abstract

The present study used perspectives from the general literature on college alcohol consumption to examine mediational influences of peer, environmental, and parental variables on heavy drinking for student athlete and nonathlete samples. Eight hundred thirty-five freshmen who differed in organized sports involvement were compared on heavy drinking outcomes, peer norms, environmental influences, and parental communication. College athletes reported significantly more heavy drinking experiences than nonathletes. Peer norms, environmental influences, and parental communication were all significant mediators of the athlete-heavy drinking relationship. Athletes reported a higher perception of peer drinking, peer approval of drinking, higher alcohol availability, and direct drink offers, which, in turn, were related to higher rates of heavy drinking. Parental communication mediated the athlete-heavy drinking relationship differently, depending on the specific topic of conversation. Discussion surrounding the importance of incorporating a variety of interventions aimed at reducing collegiate athlete drinking on the basis of the peer, environmental, and parental influences observed in the present analyses are presented. Limitations and directions for future research are also noted.Keywords college students; athlete; alcohol Alcohol is consistently cited by researchers, college administrators, and students as the most pervasively misused substance on college campuses (Dimeff, Baer, Kivlahan, & Marlatt, 1999;Perkins, 2002 (Dawson, Grant, Stinson, & Chou, 2004). Furthermore, reports continue to document the negative consequences associated with college student drinking such as academic problems, injuries, alcohol poisonings, unintended and unprotected sexual activity, and impaired driving (Wechsler, Molnar, Davenport, & Baer, 1999).Baer (2002) has noted that there is significant variability within the college population, with the heaviest drinkers consuming almost 70% of the alcohol (see also Wechsler et al., 1999). Meilman, Leichliter, and Presley (1999) observed the highest consumption tends to occur in individuals who combine Greek membership and athletics, followed by Greek nonathletes, and non-Greek athletes. Although many studies have examined the psychological constructs related to Greek students' alcohol consumption (Bartholow, Sher, & Krull, 2003;Caron, Moskey, & Hovey, 2004;Larimer, Anderson, Baer, & Marlatt, 2000;Presley, Meilman, & Leichliter, 2002;McCabe et al., 2005; Weschler, Kuh, & Davenport, 1996), researchers have noted far fewer studies examining such variables in athletes (Damm & Murray, 1996;Evans, Weinberg, & Jackson, 1992;Martens, Cox, Beck, & Heppner, 2003; Martens, Dams-O'Connor, DuffyPaiement, & Gibson, 2005;Nattiv, Puffer, & Green, 1997;Thombs, 2000;Wilson, Pritchard, & Schaffer, 2004). Theory-driven interventions for alcohol misuse by athletes are scarcer (Larimer & Cronce, 2002;Thombs & Hamilton, 2002).One explanation for the paucity of studies is the misperception that sport participa...

A Randomized Clinical Trial Evaluating a Combined Alcohol Intervention for High-Risk College Students

“…Recently, research has begun to focus on student athletes as a high-risk group Martens et al, 2006;Turrisi et al, 2006bTurrisi et al, , 2007. Student athlete alcohol misuse appears to be an exacerbation of patterns established before college (Hildebrand et al, 2001;Wechsler et al, 1997).…”

Risk Factors for Alcohol Abuse Among College Athletes

“…Self-concept theory seems to fit in well with the existing research. Several studies support the validity of using self-concept theory by demonstrating that different aspects of the self-schemas and self-identities that make up an individual's self-concept affect drinking behavior (Martens, Dams-O'Connor, et al, 2006;Meilman et al, 1999;NCAA, 2006;Nelson & Wechsler, 2001;Turrisi et al, 2007;Wilson et al, 2004;Yusko et al, 2008aYusko et al, , 2008b. Selfconcept theory and research support that studying college athletes separately is important because there are fundamental differences in the self-schemas and self-identity associated with college athletes and why they are consuming alcohol compared with why other college students are consuming alcohol (Martens, Dams-O'Connor, et al, 2006;Nelson & Wechsler, 2001;Turrisi et al, 2007;Wilson et al, 2004;Yusko et al, 2008b).…”

“…In addition, the self-schemas and self-identity associated with a college athlete have many of the same qualities as those associated with a binge drinker. Turrisi et al (2007) investigated several social mediator variables of binge drinking in college athletes. Overall, they found that athletes get drunk significantly more often, engage in more episodes of heavy drinking, and drink more on their peak drinking occasion than nonathletes.…”

Contextualizing Students’ Alcohol Use Perceptions and Practices within French Culture: An Analysis of Gender and Drinking among Sport Science College Students

“…Alcohol-related health problems, including morbidity and mortality, have been documented in youth populations, especially in university/college populations. Many factors have been found to mediate the association between alcohol use and related problems, including context of use (Courtenay, 2000;Fuchs & Le Hénaff, 2014), social determinants (Turrisi, Mastroleo, Mallett, Larimer, & Kilmer, 2007), significant others/sexual partners (Grossbard et al, 2007a), transition into adulthood (Allen-Collinson & Brown, 2012;Christie-Mizell & Peralta, 2009), socio-economic status (Bélanger, Ohl, Berchtold, Akre, & Suris, 2012), race/ethnicity (Neff, Prihoda, & Hoppe, 1991;Peralta & Steele, 2009), and gender identity norms (Iwamoto, Corbin, Lejuez, & MacPherson, 2014;Mahalik, Burns, & Syzdek, 2007;Moradi & Parent, 2013;Peralta, 2007). Also important is the nature of cultural activities associated with excessive alcohol use-for example, the formal and informal practices of sport as a highly gendered (and at times, gender-segregated) institution (Choquet & Com-Ruelle, 2009;Turrisi, Mallett, Mastroleo, & Larimer, 2006).…”