Alcohol Abuse as a Rite of Passage: The Effect of Beliefs About Alcohol and the College Experience on Undergraduates' Drinking Behaviors

• NCJ Number: 217592
• Journal: Journal of Drug Education Volume: 36 Issue: 3 Dated: 2006 Pages: 193-212
• Author(s): Lizabeth A. Crawford; Katherine B. Novak
• Date Published: 2006
• Length: 20 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the impact of college students’ beliefs about alcohol and the college experience on their drinking behaviors.

Abstract

Results indicated that beliefs about alcohol and the college experience had an influence on students’ drinking behaviors that were similar in magnitude to the influence of other risk factors for alcohol abuse. Students who drank heavily were more likely to view alcohol use as an integral part of the college experience and were more likely to express an attitude of entitlement to drink irresponsibly within the college environment. Several factors were associated with the perception that alcohol abuse is an integral part of the college experience: gender (being male), drinking before college, participating in the Greek system, having heavy drinking friends, and believing that alcohol use is a common campus activity. The findings suggest that campus alcohol-reduction initiatives that focus only on peer drinking may not be as effective as those that also include a consideration of the structural causes of undergraduate drinking as well as alcohol’s ritual functions. Participants were 293 college students (118 males and 175 females) who were enrolled in a number of lower-level social science courses at a medium-sized, private midwestern university. Participants completed a standardized measure during class time that examined their beliefs about alcohol and the college experience, alcohol expectancies, alcohol use patterns, and other risk factors for alcohol abuse, including gender, pre-college drinking, participation in the Greek system, friends’ drinking behaviors, and perceived campus drinking norms. Bivariate correlations and ordinary least squares regression models were used to analyze the data. Future research should focus on reevaluating the relationship between students’ beliefs about alcohol and the college experience and their drinking behaviors using a longitudinal research design. Tables, figures, appendix, references