The Relationship Between Social-Contextual Factors and Alcohol and Polydrug Use Among College Freshmen

Abstract

This article summarizes results from a survey on social-contextual risk factors and drinking and polydrug use among 317 undergraduate college students. Retrospective alcohol use was a primary predictor for prospective heavy alcohol use and drinking game participation was a primary predictor for prospective alcohol occurrences, while social-contextual factors were primary predictors for prospective drug use. Primary and secondary predictors differed for prospective alcohol severity, alcohol frequency and drug use, suggesting that there are specific risk factors associated with each type of drinking and drug-using pattern. There were also significant differences in monthly over-the-counter medication, prescription medication and drug use among students who participated in drinking games, collegiate sports, and Greek organizations. These results suggest that students who have experimented with alcohol and drug use prior to entering college may be more likely to engage in social and recreational activities where alcohol and drugs are available; therefore college prevention programs should focus on increasing alternative activities to deter alcohol and drug use.

Profile of simultaneous poly-substance users of undergraduate students at one university, Kingston - Jamaica

“…These living arrangements and free flow of movements on and off campus, allow for greater and continued exposure to a social environment that may be accepting of polydrug use. 4 Moreover, this exposure may be further exacerbated by the availability of and easy accessibility to substances. It was noted from the findings of this study, that the substances used in the different polydrug combinations were all legal and socially accepted, except for cannabis.…”

“…Therefore, programmes to be implemented in order to prevent, erased or lessen substance misuse, need to focus on activities which counter alcohol and substance use. 4 Not much research is done on substance misuse among university students and even less seems to be conducted of the medical/ health science faculties. However, university students are an important population to study for substance use, as they are considered to be a vulnerable population, because of their easy access to substances of abuse, academic stress and burn-out.…”

Group alcohol climate, alcohol consumption, and student performance.

“…From the research literature on college student drinking, we know that both individual factors (O'Connor & Colder, 2005;Simons et al, 2005) and social norms (Baer, 2002;Simons et al, 2005) influence individual drinking. On the other hand, the organizational literature illustrates the relationship between facet-specific climates within work teams and salient outcomes of these specific team climates (Mathiesen et al, 2004;Zohar, 2000).…”

“…Furthering this perspective, some studies have focused on specific high-risk groups within universities, such as sororities, fraternities, and athletic teams, and found that these groups drink more often and more heavily than their peers Kilmer, Larimer, Parks, Dimeff, & Marlatt, 1999;Leichliter, Meilman, Presley, & Cashin, 1998). It has been proposed that students associate membership in these groups with popularity and increase their drinking to match the perceived group norm (Simons et al, 2005).…”

“…One body of research has focused on the individual antecedents to drinking behavior. Studies in this area have concluded that both retrospective reports of precollege alcohol use (Simons et al, 2005) and individual differences in motivation (O'Connor & Colder, 2005) have significant influence on drinking.…”