"I Got Your Back": Friends' Understandings Regarding College Student Spring Break Behavior

• NCJ Number: 233324
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 40 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2011 Pages: 108-120
• Author(s): Megan E. Patrick; Nicole Morgan; Jennifer L. Maggs; Eva S. Lefkowitz
• Date Published: January 2011
• Length: 13 pages
• Grant Number(s): R01 AA016016; F32 AA017806
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study evaluated whether Spring Break understandings with friends were important predictors beyond the known positive predictors of alcohol use and sexual behavior.

Abstract

Behaviors that pose threats to safety and health, including binge drinking and unprotected sex, increase during a week-long break from university. Understandings with peers regarding these behaviors may be important for predicting behavior and related harms. College students (N = 651; 48 percent men) reported having understandings with their friends regarding alcohol use (59 percent) and sexual behavior (45 percent) during Spring Break. These understandings were to engage in behaviors characterized by risk (e.g., get drunk [23.5 percent], have sex with someone new [5.2 percent]) and protection (e.g., drink without getting drunk [17.8 percent], use condoms [15.8 percent]). After controlling for previous semester behavior and going on a Spring Break trip, Get Drunk Understandings predicted a greater likelihood of binge drinking and alcohol-related consequences; No/Safe Sex Understandings predicted condom use; and Sex Understandings predicted not using condoms. Understandings with friends regarding Spring Break behavior may be important proximal predictors of risk behaviors and represent potential targets for event-specific prevention. (Published Abstract) Tables and references