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The adverse impact of heavy episodic drinkers on other students
Abstract
College student survey data were examined to assess the impact of campus levels of heavy episodic drinking on nonheavy episodic drinking college students.
Analyses are based on a survey mailed to a random sample of college students at 140 American colleges. A total of 17,592 students (69%) at participating colleges responded. The study defined "heavy" drinking as the consumption of five or more drinks in a row for men and four or more for women, and divided schools into approximately equal categories: lower drinking level schools where 35% or fewer students were heavy drinkers; midlevel schools (36-50% heavy drinkers); and high drinking level schools where over 50% of the students were heavy drinkers.
Residing on campus at high drinking level schools adversely affected students who were not engaging in heavy drinking. The odds of experiencing at least one problem from other students' drinking was 3.6 to 1 when nonheavy drinking students at high drinking level schools were compared to nonheavy drinking students at lower drinking level schools. Examples of such secondary heavy drinking effects included being hit or assaulted, having one's property damaged or experiencing an unwanted sexual advance.
College alcohol prevention efforts should include a focus on the needs of students who are not engaging in heavy drinking yet may be adversely impacted by other students' heavy drinking.
... Binge drinkers are more likely to drive while intoxicated, damage property, suffer injuries, engage in violence and risky sexual behavior, and display poor academic performance (Wechsler, Dowdall, Davenport, & Rimm, 1994). A continued pattern of binge drinking poses immediate health risks (e.g., alcohol poisoning, acute alcoholic hepatitis) as well as long-term consequences (alcohol dependence, liver cirrhosis; Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995). ...
... The TLFB provided four measures of a participant's drinking habits for the past 3 months: (a) total number of drinking days for that period (drinking days), (b) total number of drinks consumed in that period (total drinks), (c) maximum number of drinks consumed in one day (maximum daily drinks), and (d) total number of days on which binge drinking occurred (binge days). For men, a binge was defined as the consumption of five or more drinks on a single occasion (Wechsler et al., 1995). It has been suggested that binge drinking for women should be defined as four or more drinks because of their average lower body weight and their tendency to obtain higher BACs than men from a given dose of alcohol (e.g., Wechsler et al., 1995); thus a binge drinking episode was defined as four or more drinks for female participants. ...
... For men, a binge was defined as the consumption of five or more drinks on a single occasion (Wechsler et al., 1995). It has been suggested that binge drinking for women should be defined as four or more drinks because of their average lower body weight and their tendency to obtain higher BACs than men from a given dose of alcohol (e.g., Wechsler et al., 1995); thus a binge drinking episode was defined as four or more drinks for female participants. ...
This research examined alcohol-induced motivation to drink as a factor that contributes to preoccupation with drinking. Forty undergraduates rated their degree of preoccupation with drinking. The author determined the relationship between the undergraduates' preoccupation and the degree to which alcohol primed their motivation to drink by having them rate their desire for alcohol after they consumed a dose of alcohol or a placebo. Results showed that individual differences in preoccupation were predicted by the priming effects displayed after alcohol was consumed. More preoccupied individuals reported greater priming effects. Priming effects following placebo were minimal and were not related to preoccupation. The research shows that reinforcing effects of alcohol may contribute to cognitive preoccupation with drinking and promote patterns of alcohol abuse.
... Research has only begun to examine those who have been negatively affected by other's alcohol use. [8][9][10][11][12][13] ...
... The SEA include experiences such as being insulted or humiliated, serious arguments or quarrels, pushed or hit, property damage, taking care of a drunk student, finding vomit in halls or bathrooms, having study or sleep interrupted, and being sexually assaulted. 8,9 Researchers estimate that 60-84% of US college students experience negative consequences related to SEA, and 55% of students have experienced at least two SEA. [10][11][12][13] SEA can originate from a multitude of sources including parents, 14 spouses, 15,16 neighbors, 17 coworkers, 18 or even strangers. ...
... 17,19,21 For college students, the most salient form of SEA comes from their peers. 9 SEA affects student health by influencing personal alcohol use. SEA has a positive association with levels of personal alcohol use, [8][9][10] and individuals who choose peer groups that engage in alcohol use are more likely to be subjected to, and subject others to SEA. 10 Extant research has provided prevalence rates for the experience of SEA; however, a deeper examination of SEA and its outcomes is needed given the risk of harm and potential to develop prevention and intervention targeting SEA. ...
Objective:The secondhand effects of alcohol use (SEA) are adverse consequences caused by another’s drinking. This study explored the relationship among the experience of SEAs, alcohol use, and alcohol related consequences (ARC). In addition, we examined whether coping (i.e., adaptive, maladaptive, substance use coping, maladaptive coping without substance use items) served as a moderator of SEA effects on alcohol outcomes. Method: 1,168 students completed a survey assessing SEA, alcohol outcomes, ARC, and coping strategies. Results: SEA was significantly positively associated with alcohol use (RRheavydrinking = 1.05, SE = 0.005, p < .01; RRAUDIT = 1.04, SE = .005, p < .01) as well as ARC (RR = 1.06, SE = .005, p < .01). Various forms of maladaptive coping moderated the relationship between SEA and alcohol outcomes. Conclusion: This study provided evidence for a relationship between SEA and more alcohol use and ARC. This relationship was exacerbated by maladaptive coping.
... The likelihood of a student participating in heavy episodic drinking is also influenced by the overall prevalence at the college that he or she is attending. Students at -heavyepisodic-drinking colleges‖ (those schools at which over 45% of the students reported participating in heavy episodic drinking-previously called -binge drinking‖-in the past two weeks) are more likely to either continue or start heavy episodic drinking during college (Wechsler et al. 1995b). ...
... Heavy Episodic Drinker. Heavy episodic drinkers were students who stated they had consumed four or more drinks for females and five or more drinks for males (Wechsler et al. 1995b) at least once in the past 30 days. ...
... High--Drinking-Level Colleges. Wechsler et al. (1995b) defined -high-drinking-level colleges‖ as those colleges where over 45% of the students reported heavy episodic drinking (i.e., consuming four or more drinks for women and five or more for men in the past two weeks). Our survey asked about the past 30 days rather than two weeks. ...
The transition from high school to college is a critical period in a student’s life, and the associated stress can promote more experimentation with alcohol and drugs. The study investigated how the alcohol-consumption environment of college moderates the behaviors of students during their transition from high school to college. A sample of n = 7,537 college students from eight participating colleges in the United States were surveyed about their drinking behavior when they were in high school, as well as their drinking behavior in college. According to college-wide drinking rates, the colleges were categorized into high- and low-levels-of-drinking colleges. Three variables—the AUDIT score, college drinker status, and college heavy-episodic-drinking status—were separately used as dependent variables in generalized linear mixed models, whereas high school drinking behavior and the general level of alcohol consumption of the college, together with the associated moderation effect, were included as primary independent variables. We found that the interaction term between high school drinking and the level of alcohol consumption of the college the student attends was highly significant (p < 0.001) for both the dependent variables AUDIT score and college drinker status and was significant (p < 0.05) for heavy-episodic-drinking status. Thus, a college’s overall drinking level imparts significant risk to incoming students beyond that conferred by the student’s drinking level in high school. That colleges and universities may have somewhat stable environments of high-risk drinking points to the need to change the extra-individual, college-wide values, structures, policies, and environments.
... The secondhand effects of alcohol use (SEA) also known as alcohol's harm to others (AHTO) are negative consequences caused by another's alcohol use. SEA includes experiences such as being insulted or humiliated, serious arguments, being pushed or hit, property damage, or experiencing sexual assault (Stiles, 2013;Wechsler, 1995). The prevalence of SEA among college students is high, with 60-84% of students endorsing SEA (Boekeloo et al., 2009;Diep et al., 2015;Enser et al., 2017). ...
... Despite this limitation, an advantage of using a single SEA item is that it provides a way for clinicians to quickly screen for SEA in large populations. We recommend future studies use either a single item that captures more sources of SEA, or use a more comprehensive measure of SEA, such as the Secondhand Effects of Alcohol Questionnaire (SEAQ; Wechsler et al., 1995), which assesses both frequency and type of SEA experienced. We were also limited in our ability to make causal claims due to the cross-sectional nature of the data. ...
Introduction: Secondhand effects of alcohol use (SEA) are adverse consequences experienced by an individual due to another’s drinking (i.e., study/sleep interrupted, being insulted or humiliation, sexual assault or rape). SEA is a serious public health concern among college students due to its serious consequences and high prevalence (60–84%). The present study examined the associations among SEA, personal alcohol use, depression, anxiety, and stress. Methods: 836 students completed an online survey that assessed for study variables. Results: SEA significantly predicted all outcomes with those endorsing SEA reporting higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Moreover, participants who endorsed SEA also reported 30% more frequent binge drinking and 18% more drinks on their heaviest reported drinking day. Conclusions: Findings indicate that the experience of SEA is a risk factor for poor mental and behavioral health outcomes among college students.
... Nearly 29.2% of high school students reported alcohol consumption in the preceding month of completing the Youth Risk Behavior Swveillance System (YRBSS) survey in 2019 (Jones et al., 2020). The adversities caused by binge drinking are not only limited to the drinkers but also extend to the non-drinking youth (Ross et al., 201 4;Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995). A sizable proportion of non-drinking students reported being the victim ofham1ful events initiated by drinkers (Wechsler et al., 1995). ...
... The adversities caused by binge drinking are not only limited to the drinkers but also extend to the non-drinking youth (Ross et al., 201 4;Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995). A sizable proportion of non-drinking students reported being the victim ofham1ful events initiated by drinkers (Wechsler et al., 1995). ...
Alcohol drinking is a global public health concern. Alcohol advertisements and promotions influence youth to initiate underage alcohol consumption. Exposure to displays of beer, wine, and liquor in various settings has been pivotal in creating favorable social and perceived norms for societies, which has tremendously influenced youth drinking behavior. To address behavior stimulating complex settings in societies, highly coordinated and scientifically proven public health approaches need to be utilized in addressing challenges lies with multiple areas, including marketing strategies of the industry, a pairing effect of social media, widespread favorable community perception, and ineffective policies. This commentary provides some strategies including the application of behavior change theory, the Multi-Theory Model (MTM) for building media literacy skills, in reducing the effect of advertisements on alcohol drinking initiation among youth.
Keywords: Underage drinking, Alcohol use, Multi-theory model, Alcohol advertisements
... Property Damage: More than 25% of administrators from schools with relatively low drinking levels and over 50% from schools with high drinking levels say their campuses have a "moderate" or "major" problem with alcohol related property damage (Wechsler et al., 1995). ...
... These include, for example, interrupted sleep and study, being insulted or humiliated, having to take care of an inebriated friend or roommate, having a serious quarrel, unwanted sexual advances, being sexually abused or raped, being physically assaulted, and having property damaged . These and other harmful consequences have been found to be highest at campuses with high rates of episodic heavy drinking (Wechsler et al., 1995). ...
California State University, Chico is a mid-sized, comprehensive public university with a bright history. This campus has a long and proud legacy of academic quality and notable accomplishments by faculty and students. This positive history, however, has been clouded by a darker story. At the center of this shadow side is student alcohol abuse and the school’s reputation as a “party school.” To be sure, this “party school” story has been embellished by mass media and hand-me-down tales of drinking bravado. Still, student drinking has long been a challenge for campus leaders at CSU, Chico, constantly threatening the quality of academic life, as well as student health and safety. This report describes the history of the student alcohol issue at CSU, Chico and of campus efforts to prevent alcohol abuse. After placing this campus’ experience in a national context, we trace the origins and course of the “party school” legacy at CSU, Chico from the 1920s onward. We then describe the beginnings of prevention efforts in focused prevention efforts after the infamous Pioneer Days riot of 1987. Recent data on student drinking are presented, based on questionnaires and breath-testing surveys. We then describe how the campus has sought to broaden and intensify its prevention efforts within a social ecology framework. These steps have focused on shaping conditions in the campus and community likely to influence students’ choices about drinking. Longitudinal data are then presented to address whether these efforts have made a difference. Lessons are drawn, and recommendations are offered other college campuses for preventing student alcohol abuse. These recommendations assume that student alcohol abuse is a multi-causal problem, the result of a host of influences, including societal context, family background, attitudes and values, community context, and curricular and co-curricular factors on the campus. Therefore, prevention programs must be comprehensive, focusing both on students’ own attitudes and on environmental influences within the institution’s control in the community and campus. The social ecology framework with its focus on the individual and on environmental management is very useful for guiding such efforts
... 5 Both alcohol use in general, and heavy episodic drinking in particular, are associated with significant health and other risks. 6,7 For example, 47% of students who engaged in heavy episodic drinking experienced five or more drink-related problems (e.g. injuries and engagement in unplanned sexual activities 7 ). ...
... However, heavy episodic drinking students frequently do not see this behaviour as problematic, and rarely pursue help for an alcohol problem. 7 Moreover, alcohol misuse in college/ university student populations is an international issue. 8 Therefore, there has been a drive for research to focus on developing and improving a range of interventions that target problem drinking with students, 3 including, in recent years, a substantial increase in interest in Einterventions. ...
Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and moderators of E-Interventions versus assessment only (AO) controls in the reduction of alcoholic drinks per week (DWP) in university students.
Study design and methods: Cochrane library, CINAEL, ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science were searched up to June 2017. Studies were included if they were: an RCT, assessed the effectiveness of E-Interventions at reducing DWP, and employed university/college students. 23 studies (N = 7,614) were included and quality was assessed using the JADAD scale.
Results: Weighted mean effect sizes were calculated using random-effects models. These showed a small, significant effect of E-Interventions at reducing the number of alcoholic DWP. Moderator analysis found a significant advantage for web-based personalised feedback interventions compared to other E-Interventions.
Conclusions: E-Interventions show a small, significant effect at reducing mean alcoholic DPW. Personalised feedback E-Interventions showed the strongest effect.
... For eligibility, participants needed to (a) be between the ages of 21 and 29, (b) have engaged in HED at least weekly on average during the past year, and (c) be sufficiently proficient in written English to complete study procedures. HED was defined as consuming 4+/5+ drinks in a row for females/males (Wechsler et al., 1995). Five hundred thirty-one completed the screening survey and 419 were eligible. ...
Objective: Drinking intention is a predictor of heavy-drinking episodes and could serve as a real-time target for preventive interventions. However, the association is inconsistent and relatively weak. Considering the affective context when intentions are formed might improve results by revealing conditions in which intention–behavior links are strongest and the predictive power of intentions is greatest. Method: We investigated the links between drinking intentions reported in the morning and same-day drinking behavior, moderated by positive and negative affect (PA, NA) in a sample of heavy-drinking young adults. Participants wore the SCRAM continuous alcohol monitor transdermal alcohol sensor anklet for 6 consecutive days in their natural environments and responded to daily ecological momentary assessments that included morning intentions to drink and PA/NA items. Drinking events and patterns were measured using morning-report counts and features from the sensor. Bayesian gamma-hurdle and Poisson multilevel models with noninformative priors tested day-level associations. We hypothesized that drinking intention–behavior associations would be strongest on days with high levels of PA, but we did not hypothesize directionality for the NA effect given the conflicting results in previous literature. Results: Day-level drinking intention–behavior associations were stronger on days with higher versus lower PA according to sensors features. Associations were also stronger on days with lower versus higher NA. Conclusions: The strength of intention–behavior links may partly depend on the affective contexts in which intentions are formed. Results could fine-tune intervention approaches by elucidating the affective contexts in which intentions may more clearly link to drinking behavior to reduce the intensity of an episode—better anticipating problematic drinking among young adults.
... A súlyos alkoholhasználatnak (pl. HED) számos következménye lehet, így például kihagyott órák, alacsonyabb érdemjegyek, sérülések, fi zikai konfrontációk, szexuális zaklatások, nem kívánt szexuális aktivitások, emlékezetkiesések, kognitív zavarok és elhalálozás is (Martens et al., 2008;Wechsler et al., 1995;White & Hingson, 2014). Mindezek alapján tehát érdemes lehet megvizsgálni és megérteni azokat a tényezőket, amelyek protektív szereppel bírhatnak az alkoholhasználat tekintetében. ...
Background:
This study examined the relationship between alcohol use, protective behavioral strategies, and self-determination among young adults. Young adults may be particularly prone to risky forms of alcohol use (e.g., heavy episodic drinking) and the resulting negative consequences. Protective behavioral strategies are behaviors used to reduce negative consequences arising from alcohol use. Based on existing literature, autonomous motivation as defined in self-determination theory and the satisfaction of psychological needs may influence these factors and have potential implications for interventions. The main objective of this research is to examine the four-factor structure of the Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire in a young adult sample from Hungary, and to explore the association between autonomous motivation related to responsible alcohol use, satisfaction of basic psychological needs, protective behavioral strategies, and the extent of harmful alcohol use.
Methods:
The study was based on a cross-sectional questionnaire survey with a total of 272 participants (32.4% male, 67.6% female, average age 23.8 years). The questionnaire package included the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale, Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire, and the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration Scale.
Results:
Confirmatory factor analysis revealed a modified four-factor structure (amotivation, external regulation, introjected regulation, and autonomous motivation) with the best fi t indices. Autonomous motivation and satisfaction of basic psychological needs showed significant positive, moderate to strong correlations with the frequency of protective strategies use and significant negative, moderate to strong correlations with the extent of harmful alcohol use. There was a significant positive, weak association between autonomous motivation and satisfaction of basic psychological needs. Mediation analysis indicated that protective behavioral strategies partially mediate the relationship between autonomous motivation and harmful alcohol use.
Conclusions:
These results are consistent with other literature findings, suggesting that the questionnaire could be applied in future research. Furthermore, both autonomous motivation and satisfaction of basic psychological needs may increase the frequency of protective strategies use and reduce the extent of harmful alcohol use.
... Campuses that have high levels of binge drinking are more likely to have students who report experiencing the secondhand effects of alcohol (see Table 2). For example, nonbinge drinking students living on high-binge campuses are twice as likely to be assaulted by a student using alcohol, three times more likely to have their property damaged, and three times more likely to have their sleep or studying interrupted than are nonbinge drinking students on low-binge campuses (Wechsler, Lee, et ah, 2000;Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995). ...
The use of the term binge drinking and the 5/4 measure have helped to advance the understanding of college alcohol use over the past 10 years. The present article discusses the importance, relevance, and utility of this measure.
... Further, the authors noticed that students living in substance-free housing experienced or encountered more college educational efforts and sanctions resulting from their alcohol use. Wechsler et al. (1995b), conducted a survey designed to assess the impact of campus levels of heavy episode drinking on non-heavy episodic drinking college students. The study surveyed a sample of 17, 592 students with a 69% response rate. ...
This research explores the rates and trends of students’ indulgence in excessive or high-risk drinking behaviors on college campuses in the United States. Some of its intents are to assess the prevalence of binge drinking among college students, its effects on the involved drinkers and nondrinkers, identify some of the risk factors associated with binge drinking, and then present mitigating strategies to reduce its incidents. The study found that those who are more predisposed to engage in binge drinking are those with low efficacy to refuse excessive alcohol drinking and those who have low importance of religion. Others include those with a family history of alcoholism, have membership in fraternity/ sorority and poor academic success, and have peers who use alcohol. Among the negative consequences and effects on those who engage in binge drinking identified include falling victim to alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape; drunk driving, high suicide rate, and indulgence in negative acts and behaviors such as rioting, bullying, and vandalism. This investigation concludes with its identification of mitigation strategies and measures necessary to prevent or reduce the high incidents of binge drinking among college students that include raising public awareness using media campaigns on related harms and preventive measures; institution and enforcement of strict campus alcohol policy; banning or restricting alcohol sales near college campuses, in dormitories and during college campus events; training beer and beverage servers on signs and symptoms of overdrinking to take precautionary actions such as denying, suspending or cutting off alcohol services once high-risk behaviors associated with overdrinking is dictated or observed. With the proper and meticulous implementation and enforcement of the above measures, the high incidents of binge drinking among college students in the United States will be drastically, greatly, and significantly reduced.
... Further, the authors noticed that students living in substance-free housing experienced or encountered more college educational efforts and sanctions resulting from their alcohol use. Wechsler et al. (1995b), conducted a survey designed to assess the impact of campus levels of heavy episode drinking on non-heavy episodic drinking college students. The study surveyed a sample of 17, 592 students with a 69% response rate. ...
First, nonlinear sociophysics and the nonlinear whole sociology are researched, which have chaos, fractal, etc. Second, quantum sociology is discussed. We propose that its bases are the extensive quantum theory and the social individual-wave duality. Third, we research the double solutions of some nonlinear equations with soliton and chaos, and the possible social meaning of chaos. On the one hand, chaos may correspond to the spread of ideas, the popularization of information, etc. On the other hand, it corresponds to the economic crisis and various social crises, etc. Fourth, chaos in corruption is discussed by mathematics. Fifth, we propose the multiply connected topological economics, in which the confidence relations and the influence functions represent various interacting strengths of different families, cliques, and systems of organization. This has a fractal structure. We propose the binary periods of the political economy by the complex function and the elliptic functions. Various applications of the mathematical and physical method are the important developing direction of modern social sciences.
... Language is a social behavior and each word we write or speak can be seen as a social activity [25], and different behaviors and activities can have various effect on our social ties and friends [39]. Taking behavior to be mention of a common topic, we utilize a dataset to reflect these points. ...
Lexical phenomena, such as clusters of words, disseminate through social networks at different rates but most models of diffusion focus on the discrete adoption of new lexical phenomena (i.e. new topics or memes). It is possible much of lexical diffusion happens via the changing rates of existing word categories or concepts (those that are already being used, at least to some extent, regularly) rather than new ones. In this study we introduce a new metric, contrastive lexical diffusion (CLD) coefficient, which attempts to measure the degree to which ordinary language (here clusters of common words) catch on over friendship connections over time. For instance topics related to meeting and job are found to be sticky, while negative thinking and emotion, and global events, like 'school orientation' were found to be less sticky even though they change rates over time. We evaluate CLD coefficient over both quantitative and qualitative tests, studied over 6 years of language on Twitter. We find CLD predicts the spread of tweets and friendship connections, scores converge with human judgments of lexical diffusion (r=0.92), and CLD coefficients replicate across disjoint networks (r=0.85). Comparing CLD scores can help understand lexical diffusion: positive emotion words appear more diffusive than negative emotions, first-person plurals (we) score higher than other pronouns, and numbers and time appear non-contagious.
... Christakis, N.A., Fowler, J.H. (2007).104 Wing RR & Jeffery RW. (1999);Malchodi CS, et al. (2003);McKnight AJ & McPherson K. (1986);Wechsler H, et al. (1995). ...
The last 40 years have seen an alarming increase in obesity rates all around the world. Unhealthy levels of weight gain negatively impact nearly all physiological functions of the body and, on a macro level, weaken the population in the face of other public health issues. Given obesity’s ability to significantly increase mortality from COVID-19, identifying potential solutions should receive more attention than ever. Academic research continues to study the relationship between a variety of potential biological, environmental, and socioeconomic causes and rising obesity rates. However, a growing literature is also beginning to examine the impact of social influence on unhealthy behavior in an effort to understand how to take advantage of peer effects in creating potential solutions. This thesis expands on such literature to examine the psychological mechanisms behind such peer effects on healthy behavior by offering an economic model of an interaction between two peers.
... High school students report high levels of binge-drinking within the past 2 weeks (Johnston et al. 2004). Binge-drinking in high school is associated with an increased rate of bingedrinking in college and a propensity for frequent bingedrinking (19-25% report more than 3 episodes of bingedrinking per week; Wechsler et al. 1995Wechsler et al. , 2000. ...
Rationale and objectivesBinge-like alcohol consumption during adolescence associates with several deleterious consequences during adulthood including an increased risk for developing alcohol use disorder (AUD) and other addictions. Replicated preclinical data has indicated that adolescent exposure to binge-like levels of alcohol results in a reduction of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) and an upregulation in the α7 nicotinic receptor (α7). From this information, we hypothesized that the α7 plays a critical role in mediating the effects of adolescent alcohol exposure.Methods
Male and female P rats were injected with the α7 agonist AR-R17779 (AR) once during 6 time points between post-natal days (PND) 29–37. Separate groups were injected with the α7 negative allosteric modulator (NAM) dehydronorketamine (DHNK) 2 h before administration of 4 g/kg EtOH (14 total exposures) during PND 28–48. On PND 75, all rats were given access to water and ethanol (15 and 30%) for 6 consecutive weeks (acquisition). All rats were then deprived of EtOH for 2 weeks and then, alcohol was returned (relapse).ResultsAdministration of AR during adolescence significantly increased acquisition of alcohol consumption during adulthood and prolonged relapse drinking in P rats. In contrast, administration of DHNK prior to binge-like EtOH exposure during adolescence prevented the increase in alcohol consumption observed during acquisition of alcohol consumption and the enhancement of relapse drinking observed during adulthood.DiscussionThe data indicate that α7 mediates the effects of alcohol during adolescence. The data also indicate that α7 NAMs are potential prophylactic agents to reduce the deleterious effects of adolescent alcohol abuse.
... These adverse consequences comprise both intentional and unintentional injuries (Rehm, 2011), including car crashes (Hasselberg & Laflamme, 2009) and victimization from and perpetration of violence (Miller et al., 2007). Early initiation and heavy use are also associated with suicide ideation, depression, and risky sexual behavior (McCambridge et al., 2011;McMorris et al., 2011;Miller et al., 2007;Wechsler et al., 1995). ...
Alcohol remains readily available to youth in most countries. We examined the associations between both the on- and off-premises commercial availability of alcohol to youth and their alcohol use, heavy episodic drinking, and alcohol-related harms. We conducted the study using data from a survey of a sample of 594 students in central Mexico between 12 and 17 years of age in 2016. Both the perceived availability of alcohol and the purchasing of alcohol at an off-premises establishment were positively related to past-30-day alcohol use and heavy episodic drinking, as well as to alcohol-related harms in the past year. Consumption at on-premises establishments was also positively associated with alcohol-related harms. Preventive efforts to reduce the availability of alcohol at off- and on-premises establishments, by such strategies as mystery shopper and responsible beverage service programs, are imperative.
... Students who said that they did not complete a study abroad-specific sexual assault program reported heavier drinking pre-departure and stronger intentions to drink while abroad compared to students who completed a study abroad-specific program. Because heavy drinking is a risk factor for sexual assault and other negative outcomes (Abbey, Zawacki, Buck, Clinton, & McAuslan, 2004;Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995), including while abroad (Flack et al., 2015), these results suggest that students most at risk are not receiving or remembering the information that might help them avoid dangerous situations. While pre-departure programs may be reaching fewer students at risk for alcohol misuse than students who do not report alcohol misuse, most students who reported attending a study abroad-specific sexual violence program indicated that alcohol use was discussed as a risk factor for sexual assault, which is promising. ...
Many universities have pre departure programs that aim to prevent alcohol misuse and sexual assault among college students abroad, yet little is known about students’ uptake of this preventative information. In this study, 2,245 study abroad students from 63 different institutions were asked about receiving pre departure alcohol/drug and sexual assa ult prevention information. Only 38% of students reported receiving pre departure information specific to alcohol/drug misuse abroad and only 22% reported receiving sexual assault prevention information prior to departure. Notably, students who were heavie r drinkers prior to departure and those who intended to drink the most while abroad reported lower rates of information receipt. Overall, these findings suggest that either students are not receiving the preventative information that universities intend them to receive or the programming is not impactful enough to be recalled. Thus, there may be missed opportunities to better prepare students for risks specific to study abroad programs.
... Students who said that they did not complete a study abroad-specific sexual assault program reported heavier drinking pre-departure and stronger intentions to drink while abroad compared to students who completed a study abroad-specific program. Because heavy drinking is a risk factor for sexual assault and other negative outcomes (Abbey, Zawacki, Buck, Clinton, & McAuslan, 2004;Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995), including while abroad (Flack et al., 2015), these results suggest that students most at risk are not receiving or remembering the information that might help them avoid dangerous situations. While pre-departure programs may be reaching fewer students at risk for alcohol misuse than students who do not report alcohol misuse, most students who reported attending a study abroad-specific sexual violence program indicated that alcohol use was discussed as a risk factor for sexual assault, which is promising. ...
Sexual violence (SV) is a public health concern for youth. Few longitudinal studies address how experiences of SV and co-occurring depression and anxiety symptoms in early young adulthood may contribute to poorer functioning in young adulthood. Using a sample of 2,416 youth aged 18 to 20 (Time 1), we assessed past year SV and co-occurring depression and anxiety symptoms. One year later, when youth were between the ages of 20 and 22 (Time 2), participants indicated their functioning in four domains: physical health and sleep quality, substance use consequences, psychological functioning, and social functioning. Using latent class analyses, we found six participant classes at Time 1 based on SV experiences and co-occurring depression and anxiety symptoms. Classes were variable by participants’ reported degree of SV experiences and co-occurring depression and anxiety symptomology. Longitudinal analyses indicated that youth in a class that experienced high levels of both SV and co-occurring depression and anxiety at Time 1 generally reported the poorest functioning in all key domains at Time 2. However, classes where participants reported greater depression and anxiety symptoms—most often in the presence of, but at times in the absence of, SV—were consistently associated with poorer functioning for physical health, psychological functioning, and social health. Classes where participants reported greater SV—in the presence of, but at times in the absence of, depression and anxiety symptoms—were associated with greater alcohol and marijuana consequences. Findings suggest prevention of SV, accessible counseling for those that have experienced SV, and screening to identify and intervene to address depression and anxiety may all be essential to help prevent poorer functioning in young adulthood.
... This approach promotes a dimensional perspective (as AUD can be mild, moderate, or severe according to the number of criteria met among the 11 described) in comparison with the categorical one followed by DSM-IV (distinguishing alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence). The massive consequences of severe AUD on neurocognitive functioning are widely established, and this condition is a major cause of death and disability (Stavro et al., 2013;Wechsler et al., 1995). Recent research has moreover shown that other excessive alcohol consumption patterns (e.g., heavy drinking, hazardous drinking), and notably those frequent among young people (e.g., binge drinking), are related to impaired cognitive and brain structure/function, even when mild AUD criteria are not met (Hermens et al., 2013;Jacobus and Tapert, 2013;Jones et al., 2018). ...
Acute alcohol intoxication and alcohol use disorders are characterized by a wide range of psychological and cerebral impairments, which have been widely explored using neuropsychological and neuroscientific techniques. Eye tracking has recently emerged as an innovative tool to renew this exploration, as eye movements offer complementary information on the processes underlying perceptive, attentional, memory or executive abilities. Building on this, the present systematic and critical literature review provides a comprehensive overview of eye-tracking studies exploring cognitive and affective processes among alcohol drinkers. Using PRISMA guidelines, 36 papers that measured eye movements among alcohol drinkers were extracted from three databases (PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus). They were assessed for methodological quality using a standardized procedure, and categorized based on the main cognitive function measured, namely perceptive abilities, attentional bias, executive function, emotion and prevention/intervention. Eye tracking indexes showed that alcohol-related disorders are related to: (1) a stable pattern of basic eye movement impairments, particularly during alcohol intoxication; (2) a robust attentional bias, indexed by increased dwell times for alcohol-related stimuli; (3) a reduced inhibitory control on saccadic movements; (4) an increased pupillary reactivity to visual stimuli, regardless of their emotional content; (5) a limited visual attention to prevention messages. Perspectives for future research are proposed, notably encouraging the exploration of eye movements in severe alcohol use disorders and the establishment of methodological gold standards for eye tracking measures in this field.
... Students who choose not to binge drink, but who live on campuses with a high proportion of binge drinkers, are also negatively affected and subjected to more incidences of assault and unwanted sexual advances. In addition, these non-drinkers often experience interrupted studying or sleep, which can affect their academic performance (Wechsler, Davenport, Dowdall, Moeykens, & Castillo, 1994;Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995). ...
Background and Purpose: College drinking is a major public health concern with four out of every five college students reporting alcohol use. The authors examined the frequency with which students utilized 11 protective alcohol use behaviors from the 2011 American College Health Association – National College Health Assessment (ACHA – NCHA – II). The effects of age, gender, and year in school on each of these behaviors were also examined. Methods: A total of 1,082 randomly selected students attending a California State University institution completed a web-based version of the NCHA-II. Descriptive statistics were conducted to describe the sample and the protective behaviors. Logistic regression analysis were conducted to assess the associations between each behavior with age, gender, and year in school. Results: The most frequently utilized behavior was staying with the same friends. Compared to undergraduate students, graduate students were more likely to utilize protective behaviors, and males were more likely than females to utilize the majority of these behaviors. Conclusions: This study provides support for the implementation of alcohol-related interventions in different sectors of the university, such as dormitories and fraternities.
... Alkol kullanımı da sigara kullanımı gibi genç yaşta başlamaktadır. Dünya genelinde yapılan araştırmalara baktığımızda üniversite öğrencileri arasında yapılan 2 ayrı çalışmada % 44-46 oranında alkol aşırı içme davranışı bildirilmiştir (13,14). Ülkemizdeki duruma baktığımızda ise 576 üniversite öğrencisi ile yapılan bir araştırmada % 14 düzeyinde riskli alkol kullanımı saptanmıştır (15). ...
Amaç: Alkol ve sigara kullanımı toplum sağlığını tehdit eden önemli etkenlerin başında gelmektedir. Sigara ve alkol ile mücadelenin önünde ki en büyük engel ise bağımlılık yapıcı etkileri olarak gösterilmektedir. Çalışmamızda sigara ve alkol bağımlılık düzeyleri ve etkileyen faktörleri araştırmak amaçlanmıştır. Gereç ve Yöntem: Kesitsel ve tanımlayıcı nitelikteki bu çalışma, bir üniversite hastanesinin aile hekimliği polikliniğine başvuran katılımcılar üzerinde yapıldı. Veriler anket formu ile toplandı. Çalışmaya gönüllü olarak katılmayı kabul eden 181 kişiye anket uygulandı. Sigara kullanan 64 kişi ve alkol kullanan 28 kişi değerlendirmeye alındı. Bulgular: Araştırmamızda sigara kullanım oranı %35,4, alkol kullanım oranı %13,3 olarak bulundu. Erkek cinsiyet, erken başlama yaşı ve kullanım süresinin uzaması hem sigara hem de alkol bağımlılık düzeyini arttırdığı görüldü. Evlilerde ve eğitim düzeyi azaldıkça sigara bağımlılığı artarken alkol bağımlılık düzeyinin bekarlarda ve eğitim seviyesi arttıkça yükseldiği görüldü. Sonuç: Alkol ve sigara bağımlılığı halen önemli bir halk sağlığı sorunu olduğu ve mücadelede daha fazla etkin adımlar atılmasının gerektiği saptanmıştır.
... The current college HTO literature lacks the detail required to support rigorous study designs. Attempts to measure the intensity of HTO in college settings involved either tallying the frequency or recency of occasions in which respondents experienced HTO (Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995;Weitzman & Chen, 2005) or asking respondents to classify HTOs according to the degree of seriousness (Wechsler et al., 2002). These methods give some indication of scope but little insight into the magnitude of the health burden. ...
Background:
A growing literature shows that drinkers can harm bystanders through alcohol-related harms to others (HTO). The burden of HTO is particularly consequential in college environments, where heavy alcohol consumption and related harms are highly prevalent. A key limitation to the current literature on HTO among college students is that the determinants of HTO in college settings are not well-described.
Objective:
This article presents an evidence- and theory-based conceptual framework of HTO among United States college students.
Methods:
This study used a literature review in Embase, PsycInfo, PubMed, and Web of Science to determine the prevalence of HTO among college students and literature gaps. Researchers supplemented college HTO literature with broader HTO literature to develop a conceptual framework.
Results:
Prevalence estimates for HTO among college populations range from 59% to 84%. Literature on HTO among college students is mostly confined to brief sections of larger surveys. The college HTO literature lacks the level of detail necessary to support methodologically rigorous research.
Conclusions:
HTO are prevalent among college populations but their prevalence and etiology are not well understood. This likely leads to systematic undercounting of the impact of alcohol in college settings, exacerbating the "translation" gap between what the research says is effective and what colleges actually do. Better understanding of HTO mechanisms through which drinkers harm those around them would inform alcohol research and policy on college campuses, and lead to more accurate assessments of the degree to which stronger alcohol policies could benefit all students, regardless of their drinking patterns.
... Excessive alcohol consumption can also result in longterm harms including vulnerability to addiction, impaired neurocognitive function (e.g., learning, memory, and information processing deficits), cancer, and liver disease (Bagnardi et al., 2015;Hingson et al., 2009;Yoon et al., 2014;Zeigler et al., 2005). Beyond the individual student, it is worth noting that excessive drinking can result in substantial damages and costs for colleges and their surrounding communities, such as property damage, crime, and noise disturbances (Wechsler et al., 1995(Wechsler et al., , 2002a. ...
Background
Excessive alcohol consumption poses significant hazards to health and safety on college campuses. While substantial research exists regarding effective policies for preventing alcohol‐related problems in the communities surrounding campuses, on‐campus alcohol policies have received far less attention.
Methods
Official campus alcohol policies (CAPs) were retrieved from the websites of the 15 member schools of the Maryland Collaborative to Reduce College Drinking and Related Problems, a voluntary statewide collaborative. CAPs were assessed for accessibility, clarity, and effectiveness. In addition to assessing whether campuses were in compliance with federal regulations for comprehensiveness of policies, a measure of likely policy effectiveness was developed through the use of 2 Delphi panels drawing on alcohol policy researchers and on‐campus and community practitioners, respectively. The panels rated 35 potential policies and 13 possible sanctions; lists of policies and sanctions were compiled primarily from what was already in existence at 1 or more member schools.
Results
For most campuses, the CAPs could be located within 30 seconds, but tended to be spread across multiple web pages. Language used to communicate the policies tended to be complex and above the reading level of someone with a high school education. At least half of the schools had less than half of the possible policies rated most or somewhat effective by the Delphi panels. Schools were more likely to employ the most effective sanctions, but somewhat and ineffective sanctions were also not uncommon.
Conclusions
CAPs are an important element in reducing negative consequences of alcohol consumption on college campuses. A higher level of research scrutiny is warranted to understand the extent to which CAPs are associated with excessive drinking, but this research describes an evidence‐ and expert‐informed assessment approach that colleges can use to regularly analyze and update their CAPS.
... lose sleep, property damage) [41,42]. These second-hand consequences are associated with decreased academic performance and school satisfaction for both drinkers and abstainers [43,44]. ...
For new students, university can be a wonderland of opportunity. But the first few weeks of the university experience are also typified by change, stress and uncertainty. From a health promotion perspective, the first few weeks of the university experience present an important yet understudied opportunity for alcohol misuse prevention. In this narrative review, we distinguish students’ alcohol use during their first year at university from what is known about their use in the first few weeks on campus. First, we outline the developmental context of the first year experience and the descriptive epidemiology of alcohol use and consequences. Second, we highlight how distinctly different the first few weeks of the university experience are relative to the rest of the academic year and overview the limited research on alcohol use and consequences during the first few weeks. Third, we overview the limited number of strategies that have focused on reducing alcohol use during the transition to university. Finally, we offer a number of suggestions for future research. A better understanding of the nature and determinants of alcohol use and consequences during the transition to university is critical to designing effective prevention and intervention strategies.
... Many students suffer acute harm from the intoxicating effects of their own and others' drinking [1,2,4,[12][13][14][15][16][17]. Additionally, members of the wider community living close to universities, particularly campuses with a high prevalence of hazardous drinking, are more likely to sustain damage to property, encounter vomit on walkways, witness people urinating, and be exposed to excessive noise, compared to those residing further away [18]. ...
Background: Responding to high levels of alcohol-related harm among students, a New Zealand university deployed a security and liaison service, strengthened the Student Code of Conduct, increased its input on the operation of alcohol outlets near campus, and banned alcohol advertising on campus. We estimated the change in the prevalence of alcohol consumption patterns among students at the university compared with other universities. Methods: We conducted a controlled before-and-after study with surveys in residential colleges at the target university in 2004 and 2014, and in random samples of students at the target university and three control universities in 2005 and 2013. The primary outcome was the prevalence of recent intoxication, while we analysed drinking per se and drinking in selected locations to investigate mechanisms of change. Results: The 7-day prevalence of intoxication decreased from 45% in 2004 to 33% in 2014 (absolute difference: 12%; 95% CI: 7% to 17%) among students living in residential colleges, and from 40% in 2005 to 26% in 2013 (absolute difference: 14%; 95% CI: 8% to 20%) in the wider student body of the intervention university. The intervention effect estimate, representing the change at the intervention university adjusted for change at other universities (aOR = 1.30; 95% CI: 0.89 to 1.90), was consistent with a benefit of intervention but was not statistically significant (p = 0.17). Conclusion: In this period of alcohol policy reform, drinking to intoxication decreased substantially in the targeted student population. Policy reforms and coincidental environmental changes may each have contributed to these reductions.
... Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995). Secondhand effects include lower grades, lower satisfaction with school (Cabalatungan & McCarthy, 2015), psychological distress , caring for an intoxicated peer, having study or sleep interrupted, being insulted or humiliated, or experiencing an unwanted sexual advance Langley, Kypri, & Stephenson, 2003;Nelson, Xuan, Lee, & Weitzman, 2009;Stiles, 2013;Wechsler, Lee, Kuo, & Lee, 2000). ...
The current study investigated the association between secondhand effects and personal consequences with substance use in a sample of rural college students (N = 412; 55.1% women; 92.2% white/non-Hispanic). The study extends the body of secondhand effects research by (a) investigating the association of marijuana use with the experience of secondhand effects; (b) examining the association of onset risk of substance use (< 18 years old) with the experience of secondhand effects; (c) exploring the multiplicity of experienced effects associated with substance use by employing a four-category typology that exhaustively represents exposure to secondhand effects and personal consequences. Bivariate and multiple regression analyses were used to evaluate the data. The majority of students (90.3%) experienced undesirable effects from substance use, with 15% reporting only secondhand effects, 28.5% only personal consequences, and 46.8% reporting both secondhand effects and personal consequences. Residing on-campus, onset risk, and past 30-day alcohol or marijuana use increased risk for experiencing personal consequences and the combination of secondhand effects and personal consequences. Secondhand effects are likely to compound the harm for substance users because they often experience both secondhand effects and personal consequences.
... Alcohol misuse among college students has been associated with a range of negative consequences such as injuries, lower academic performance, and risky sexual behaviors (Kaly, Heesacker, & Frost, 2002;Perkins, 2002;Wechsler, Davenport, Dowdall, Moeykens, & Castillo, 1994). Moreover, collegiate drinking has been related to many secondary effects among students who are light drinkers and abstainers, such as physical aggression, property damage, and sexual harassment (Cabalatungan & McCarthy, 2015;Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995). ...
Introduction:
Currently, there has been little research on peer drinking norms with non-English speaking college populations. Using a Chinese college student sample, the present study investigated perceived peer norms and their associations with individual alcohol-related behaviors.
Methods:
Past six-month drinkers (n = 436, 50% men, mean age = 20.49) recruited from one college in China took an anonymous paper-and-pencil survey. To examine the differences in alcohol-related behaviors among groups, one-way repeated measures analysis of variance and chi-square tests were conducted. To investigate the associations between perceived peer norms and individual alcohol-related behaviors, sequential linear and logistic regression analyses were conducted.
Results:
There were overall mean differences in alcohol use among participants, perceived best friends, and perceived average student for both men (F (1.98, 421.06) = 13.12, p < .001) and women (F (1.89, 399.70) = 5.79, p < .01). The proportion of best friends perceived as having had heavy episodic drinking was higher than that of participants who had had heavy episodic drinking (χ2 (1, N = 415) = 61.85, p < .001). So was the proportion of the average student perceived as having had heavy episodic drinking (χ2 (1, N = 414) = 68.17, p < .001). After controlling for demographic variables, perceived peer alcohol use explained 17% of the variance in individual alcohol use; perceived peer heavy episodic drinking contributed to 2.6 to 3.6 times higher odds of participants' reporting heavy episodic drinking.
Conclusions:
Replication research is needed to inform social norms interventions for Chinese college students.
... Participants responded to a 6-point Likert scale (None, Once, Twice, 3-5 times, 6 -9 times, 10 or more times). The gender specificity in the item allowed adjustment for potential gender differences in dosage equivalency in alcohol consumption (Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995). Additionally, the response options allowed assessment of participants' engagement in binge drinking. ...
Today’s college students are at increased risk for depression. Therefore, accurate and sustainable assessment of depressive symptoms among college students has become an important issue. One promising instrument for depression screening in college settings is the Patient Health Questionnaire—9 (PHQ-9), a 9-item self-report measure developed in primary care and designed to assess the presence of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.) symptom criteria for major depressive disorder. Although the PHQ-9 has been well validated in primary care settings, no studies have examined its factor structure for diverse college populations in the United States. This study used confirmatory factor analysis to test competing measurement models and the measurement invariance of the PHQ-9 across gender (men and women) and racial/ethnic groups (African American, Asian American, European American, Latino/a American) in a sample of 857 U.S. college students. Results supported a 1-factor model of the PHQ-9. Based on configural, metric, and scalar invariance test results, the PHQ-9 assesses depressive symptoms equivalently across gender and racial/ethnic groups. In support of validity evidence, PHQ-9 scores were positively associated with alcohol use and negatively associated with mental well-being. Implications for future research and assessment are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved)
... The consequences of high alcohol consumption can result in negative consequences for not just the individual (Martens et al., 2005), but additionally other students and the institutions that it could potentially affect (Perkins, 2002;Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995). Hope et al. (2005) reported that 74% of male Irish students and 65% of female Irish students experienced at least one of a range of alcohol-related harms/problems, such as "regretted things said or done after drinking" (62%), "felt effects of alcohol while at class/work" (50%), "missed school/ work days" (44%) and "harmed studies/work" (28%). ...
Introduction
The study presented one of the first examinations of the associations among personality, alcohol-related protective behavioural strategies (PBS), alcohol consumption, sexual intercourse and sex-related alcohol negative consequences in Irish, female college students (n = 522).
Methods
A cross-sectional observational design was employed and participants completed the study online. Participants completed measures of personality, alcohol-related PBS, alcohol consumption and sexual intercourse. Hierarchical multiple regression was utilised to access the associations between such measures.
Results
From the analyses, it was found that age, frequency of sexual intercourse, frequency of alcohol consumption, level of alcohol consumption and openness were all significantly related to the use of alcohol-related protective behavioural strategies, and in turn, sex-related negative consequences. However, inconsistent findings with other personality dimensions to those of previous research were noted.
Conclusions
The findings of this study posited that the use of PBS has a key role to play in the levels of sexual intercourse and alcohol consumption, age and openness, and the associated negative sexual consequences in Irish, female college students.
... 31 Smoking and alcohol cessation programmes that exploit peer influences that modify the social network of the target have been shown to be more successful than those that do not. [32][33][34][35][36][37][38] In sum, social network targeting represents a paradigm shift in how we currently implement interventions in global health settings. Many behaviour-change interventions currently seek to target all members of a population; however, face-to-face counselling for behaviour change takes time and resources. ...
Introduction
Despite global progress on many measures of child health, rates of neonatal mortality remain high in the developing world. Evidence suggests that substantial improvements can be achieved with simple, low-cost interventions within family and community settings, particularly those designed to change knowledge and behaviour at the community level. Using social network analysis to identify structurally influential community members and then targeting them for intervention shows promise for the implementation of sustainable community-wide behaviour change.
Methods and analysis
We will use a detailed understanding of social network structure and function to identify novel ways of targeting influential individuals to foster cascades of behavioural change at a population level. Our work will involve experimental and observational analyses. We will map face-to-face social networks of 30 000 people in 176 villages in Western Honduras, and then conduct a randomised controlled trial of a friendship-based network-targeting algorithm with a set of well-established care interventions. We will also test whether the proportion of the population targeted affects the degree to which the intervention spreads throughout the network. We will test scalable methods of network targeting that would not, in the future, require the actual mapping of social networks but would still offer the prospect of rapidly identifying influential targets for public health interventions.
Ethics and dissemination
The Yale IRB and the Honduran Ministry of Health approved all data collection procedures (Protocol number 1506016012) and all participants will provide informed consent before enrolment. We will publish our findings in peer-reviewed journals as well as engage non-governmental organisations and other actors through venues for exchanging practical methods for behavioural health interventions, such as global health conferences. We will also develop a ‘toolkit’ for practitioners to use in network-based intervention efforts, including public release of our network mapping software.
Trial registration number
NCT02694679; Pre-results.
... Reinisch et al. 1995) and previous research has suggested college students who engage in HED are at heightened risk for engaging in SRB (e.g. Wechsler et al. 1995). Previous research suggests that different trajectories of alcohol use exist in which some young adults consistently binge drink over the transition from high school to early college while some demonstrate a significant increase in binge drinking once they begin college (e.g. ...
Background: Alcohol use and sexual risk behaviors (SRBs) are significant problems on college campuses. College women are at particularly high risk for negative consequences associated with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancy.
Methods: The current study (n = 160) examined the effect of a brief, web-based alcohol intervention (n = 53) for college women on reducing SRBs compared to an assessment only control (n = 107) with a randomized controlled trial. Outcome measures included condom use assertiveness and number of vaginal sex partners and data were collected at baseline and three-month follow-up.
Results: Regression analyses revealed that the alcohol intervention was associated with higher levels of condom use assertiveness at a three-month follow-up. Additionally, more alcohol use was associated with less condom use assertiveness for those with more significant sexual assault histories.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that alcohol interventions may impact college women’s beliefs but not behavior, and future interventions should more explicitly target both alcohol and sexual risk to decrease risky behaviors.
... And while tobacco use is less common among college students than their nonstudent peers (Green et al., 2007), it remains an important health issue because the majority of daily smokers and almost 50% of occasional smokers continue smoking throughout college (Kenford et al., 2004). The social and physical consequences of substance use are significant (CDC, 2014;Goudriaan, Grekin, & Sher, 2007;Hingson, Heeren, Winter, & Wechsler, 2005;Perkins, 2002;WHO, 2011) and impact not only the user but the entire campus (Wechsler, Moeykens, Davenport, Castillo, & Hansen, 1995;. ...
Background:
The concurrent use of alcohol and tobacco has a multiplicative effect on both social and physical consequences. While it is known that alcohol and tobacco use are strongly correlated in emerging adulthood, there is significant individual variability in use. However, little research has examined how patterns of concurrent use are related over time.
Objectives:
The current study explores these longitudinal conjoint trajectories, as well as the associated sociodemographic factors.
Methods:
We used sequential latent class growth analysis to explore the co-occurring longitudinal patterns of recent alcohol and tobacco use across emerging adulthood (10 data collection periods, 2004-2009) with a diverse sample of 2,244 college students (60% female; 54% White).
Results:
Twenty distinct patterns of conjoint alcohol and tobacco use were found. There was more variation in tobacco use trajectories among alcohol users than variation in alcohol trajectories among tobacco users. Using multinomial logistic regression models we determined the impact of sociodemographic characteristics on classification into each conjoint pattern versus the normative trajectory (Abstaining tobacco/Low alcohol). Male gender, White race, fraternity/sorority affiliation, and higher family income were significantly associated with riskier conjoint trajectory patterns. Conclusions/Importance: Findings highlight the diversity of alcohol and tobacco use behaviors across emerging adulthood. The low variation in alcohol use among tobacco users indicates that tobacco use is a significant risk factor for heavier drinking. A better understanding of the covarying use of these two ubiquitous substances may provide new avenues for preventing and reducing the use of both.
... Alcohol use is common among women of reproductive age. Although women report lower levels of heavy alcohol use and lifetime alcohol use disorders than their male peers, women experience more acute effects of alcohol use at lower levels of consumption (Neighbors et al., 2003), and are at elevated risk of illness, injury and reproductive health problems due to alcohol use (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2004;Holman and English, 1996;Stockwell et al., 2004;Wechsler et al., 1995). For both women and men, alcohol use typically begins in adolescence, peaks during the mid-20 s and declines to moderate levels thereafter (Bachman et al., 2013;Chan et al., 2007). ...
... The CAS found that 44% of students reported binge drinking (defined as five or more drinks in one sitting for men, four for women) and almost half of those who were frequent binge drinkers (at least once in two weeks) experienced five or more drinking-related problems. Frequent binge drinkers were 10 times more likely than non-binge drinkers to report trouble with campus police, damage to property, injuries, and unplanned, unprotected sex (Wechsler et al., 1994;Wechsler et al., 1995). In the years following the CAS, the rate of binge drinking among college students has hardly changed. ...
Alcohol abuse among college students has become a major public health concern. Individual, environmental, and demographic factors have each been associated with alcohol abuse in that population. In response to the enormous physical, emotional, and legal consequences that occur as a result of the abuse, colleges and universities are developing strategies for prevention and intervention.
... This form of drinking is associated with missing class, falling behind in schoolwork, and lower grade point average, a relationship mediated by fewer hours spent in studying [4,5]. In addition, students who attended schools with high rates of binge drinking experienced a greater number of secondhand effects, including disruption of sleep or study, property damage, and verbal, physical, or sexual violence, than their peers attending schools with low binge drinking rates [6]. Prior studies have indicated that heavy alcohol drinkers are likely to engage in risky sexual behaviours and, thus, more likely to get sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than social drinkers [7]. ...
We develop a nonlinear mathematical model with the effect of awareness programs on the binge drinking. Due to the fact that awareness programs are capable of inducing behavioral changes in nondrinkers, we introduce a separate class by avoiding contacts with the heavy drinkers. Furthermore we assume that cumulative density of awareness programs increases at a rate proportional to the number of heavy drinkers. We establish some sufficient conditions for the stability of the alcohol free and the alcohol present equilibria and give some numerical simulations to explain our main result. Our results show that awareness programs is an effective measure in reducing alcohol problems.
Several countries, including Canada and Australia, have developed public health-based lower-risk gambling limits to differentiate lower-risk from higher-risk gambling. This study aimed to identify a preliminary set of lower-risk gambling limits (gambling frequency, duration, expenditure, expenditure as a proportion of personal net income, and diversity), and investigate if gambling types are linked to additional harms, in a Swedish context. The study involved secondary analyses of two online survey studies using the Gambling Disorder Identification Test (GDIT). Receiver operating curve analyses were conducted in relation to both + 1 and + 2 gambling-related harms in a sample of 705 past-year gamblers. Potential lower-risk limits ranges identified were: gambling frequency of “2–3 times a week” to “4 or more times a week” (8–16 times monthly); gambling duration of 6 to 15 h per month; gambling expenditure of 2,000 SEK (approximately $USD190) per month; gambling expenditure as a proportion of personal net income of 5%; and gambling diversity of only one problematic gambling type. Gambling on slots and sports betting were associated with gambling-related harms. The lower-risk limits in the current study were higher than in previous studies, which may be explained by the large proportion of support- or treatment-seeking gamblers with high rates of problem gambling and problematic online gambling in the study sample. An international consensus-based framework on gambling consumption is warranted, with lower-risk limits validated in future empirical studies using larger datasets collected from the Swedish general population.
Objective:
Excessive alcohol use is very prevalent among young adults, and consequences of drinking are often observed by witnesses. Understanding the circumstances under which witnesses of risky alcohol use help others, and whether they perceive these circumstances as an opportunity to engage in bystander intervention are important, but valid measures of these constructs are needed. The current study is a psychometric evaluation of the Exposure to Hazardous Drinking in Others (EHDO) scale and a single item indicator of Perceived Alcohol-Related Bystander Opportunity (PARBO).
Method:
Young adults (N = 1,011; 46.0% women) who reported being around someone who showed signs of alcohol intoxication in the past 3 months were recruited via Qualtrics Panels. The initial item set for the EHDO was developed through qualitative methods and reflected observed or reported risks or consequences. Factor analyses and Item Response Theory analyses were used to reduce and categorize EHDO items, and construct validity was assessed for the EHDO and the PARBO item.
Results:
An initial set of 33 EHDO items was reduced to 21, representing two factors: Situational Risk Signs and Problematic Pattern. Both factors demonstrated good model fit, internal consistency, and evidence of convergent validity. The PARBO item showed good construct validity but was distinct from the EHDO.
Conclusions:
These instruments are useful for measuring secondhand alcohol risks in a community and are particularly applicable for evaluating bystander intervention for alcohol risk.
This study analyzed data from the 1995 National College Health Risk Behavior Survey (NCHRBS) to assess the prevalence of lifetime rape among female college students and to examine the association between rape and health-risk behaviors. The NCHRBS used a mail questionnaire to assess health-risk behaviors among a nationally representative sample of undergraduate students. Twenty percent of female students reported ever having been forced to have sexual intercourse, most often during adolescence. When analyses controlled for demographic characteristics, female students who had ever been raped were significantly more likely than those who had not to report a wide range of health-risk behaviors. These results highlight a need to improve rape prevention and treatment programs for female adolescents.
Educating the public about the potential harms and benefits that may result from alcohol consumption is a valuable tool in the prevention of harm. Recommendations are often couched in definitions of what constitutes “safe” drinking and what falls under “risky” drinking. While meaningful and practical concepts and balanced definitions are surely needed, the usefulness of summarizing research on the relationship between drinking and potential risk into one-size-fits-all packages is questionable. This paper examines one such concept, that of “hazardous” drinking, and attempts to address the way in which this concept is derived and used both in the scientific literature and in recommendations for the public. The paper addresses the implications of providing such definitions for the purposes of policy and proposes ways in which recommendations on hazardous drinking can be made more meaningful to the public.
Job loss has been linked to adverse outcomes such as alcohol abuse, but improved employment, usually assumed to be beneficial, has seldom been evaluated and may not help with addictive disorders. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, young adults who were unemployed or underemployed (low income or involuntary part‐time) in 1984 were followed up in 1985 and 1989. Controlling for 1984 alcohol abuse, there were no effects of positive employment change on 1985 symptoms, but there were significant restorative effects on 1985 binge drinking among those who were heavy drinkers in 1984. There also appeared to be an indirect link of favorable 1984–1985 employment change to heavy drinking in 1989 via 1989 employment status. Because the effects of underemployment partially resembled those of unemployment, the discussion cautions against the conventional wisdom of promoting any work, including underemployment, as curative for the ills of unemployment.
Going beyond the usual focus on unemployment, this 2004 book explores the health effects of other kinds of underemployment including forms of inadequate employment as involuntary part-time and poverty wage work. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this compares falling into unemployment versus inadequate employment relative to remaining adequately employed. Outcomes include self-esteem, alcohol abuse, depression, and low birth weight. The panel data permit study of the plausible reverse causation hypothesis of selection. Because the sample is national and followed over two decades, the study explores cross-level effects (individual change and community economic climate) and developmental transitions. Special attention is given to school leavers and welfare mothers, and, in cross-generational analysis, the effect of mothers' employment on babies' birth weights. There emerges a way of conceptualizing employment status as a continuum ranging from good jobs to bad jobs to employment with implications for policy on work and health.
Many college students experience personal consequences from their
own substance use as well as secondhand effects resulting from other
students’ substance use. Our study identifies meaningful subgroup
response patterns representing the construct of experienced harms,
that is, the combined harms resulting from personal substance use and
the substance use of others. In this sample six latent classes of harms
experienced by participants were identified. The classes ranged from
a No Harms group to a group of eleven harms – Severe Harms. We
demonstrated that harms class membership was directly related to the
level of involvement with substances. As the level of substance use
increased – demonstrated by membership in latent classes of progressive involvement with substances – the odds of membership in a more
serious experienced harms class increased. Participants reporting early
onset of any substance were more likely to be members in any of the
experienced harms latent classes than members of the No Harms class.
Elucidating the exposure to harm associated with college student
substance use behavior through an expanded focus on the patterns
of experienced effects (i.e., personal consequences and secondhand
effects) advances current research on a nationally-recognized problem.
This study determined cardiovascular risk among Korean college students with a history of binge drinking. Variables included alcohol consumption, cardiovascular risk factors (increased blood pressure, body mass index, lipid values) and markers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, fibrinogen), and 10-year Framingham risk scores. Korean college student binge drinkers had higher triglyceride levels and higher ratios of triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol than did abstainers. Average number of drinks on one occasion was correlated with higher body mass index, triglyceride level, ratio of triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and 10-year Framingham risk score. The findings indicate that binge drinking may be associated with premature cardiovascular disease risk.
Backgrounds and aims:
Given the complexity of factors contributing to alcohol misuse, appropriate epistemologies and methodologies are needed to understand and intervene meaningfully. We aimed to (1) provide an overview of computational modeling methodologies, with an emphasis on system dynamics modeling; (2) explain how community-based system dynamics modeling can forge new directions in alcohol prevention research; and (3) present a primer on how to build alcohol misuse simulation models using system dynamics modeling, with an emphasis on stakeholder involvement, data sources, and model validation. Throughout, we use alcohol misuse among college students in the United States as a heuristic example for demonstrating these methodologies.
Methods:
System dynamics modeling employs a top-down aggregate approach to understanding dynamically complex problems. Its three foundational properties-stocks, flows, and feedbacks-capture nonlinearity, time-delayed effects, and other system characteristics. As a methodological choice, system dynamics modeling is amenable to participatory approaches; in particular, community-based system dynamics modeling has been used to build impactful models for addressing dynamically complex problems.
Results:
The process of community-based system dynamics modeling consists of numerous stages: (1) creating model boundary charts, behavior-over-time-graphs, and preliminary system dynamics models using group model-building techniques; (2) model formulation; (3) model calibration; (4) model testing and validation; and (5) model simulation using learning-lab techniques. .
Conclusions:
Community-based system dynamics modeling can provide powerful tools for policy and intervention decisions that can ultimately result in sustainable changes in research and action in alcohol misuse prevention.
Background and aims:
The drinking environment is a complex system consisting of a number of heterogeneous, evolving, and interacting components, which exhibit circular causality and emergent properties. These characteristics reduce the efficacy of commonly used research approaches, which typically do not account for the underlying dynamic complexity of alcohol consumption and the interdependent nature of diverse factors influencing misuse over time. We use alcohol misuse among college students in the United States as an example for framing our argument for a complex systems paradigm.
Methods:
A complex systems paradigm, grounded in socioecological and complex systems theories and computational modeling and simulation, is introduced. Theoretical, conceptual, methodological, and analytical underpinnings of this paradigm are described in the context of college drinking prevention research.
Results:
The proposed complex systems paradigm can transcend limitations of traditional approaches, thereby fostering new directions in alcohol prevention research. By conceptualizing student alcohol misuse as a complex adaptive system, computational modeling and simulation methodologies and analytical techniques can be used. Moreover, use of participatory model-building approaches to generate simulation models, can further increase stakeholder buy-in, understanding, and policymaking.
Conclusions:
A complex systems paradigm for research into alcohol misuse can provide a holistic understanding of the underlying drinking environment and its long-term trajectory, which can elucidate high-leverage preventive interventions.
Tras una serie de investigaciones, las intervenciones breves contra el consumo excesivo de alcohol en algunos marcos de la asistencia sanitaria han demostrado ser eficaces a la hora de reducir el consumo entre aquellos que abusan del alcohol. La puesta en práctica general y rutinaria de intervenciones breves en dichos marcos resultarían claramente ventajosas para la salud pública. El presente artículo examina datos que prueban la eficacia de las intervenciones breves en una serie de marcos médicos. Reciben especial atención los estudios WHO sobre “Detección y Control de los Problemas relacionados con el Alcohol en la Asistencia Sanitaria Primaria”, incluyendo la actual fase IV de ese proyecto, relacionada con las estrategias de desarrollo para la puesta en práctica de la identificación temprana y de la intervención breve en el consumo excesivo de alcohol dentro de los sistemas de asistencia sanitaria primaria de los países participantes. El artículo se centra también en el potencial de las intervenciones breves para reducir los problemas ligados al alcohol, concretamente entre los jóvenes. Se analiza la pertinencia de ese objetivo en una serie de marcos de la asistencia sanitaria (en el ejercicio de la medicina general, entre los pacientes ingresados en un hospital, en los departamentos de urgencia). Se discuten, asimismo, algunos de los resultados obtenidos al tomar en consideración las intervenciones breves en el campo del alcohol entre los jóvenes. El artículo finaliza con una serie de conclusiones referentes al estudio y a la política de intervenciones breves en general y de intervenciones breves adaptadas a las necesidades de los jóvenes.
Students who become members of fraternities and sororities avail themselves of significant opportunities that enrich their college life. Faculty advisors play an important role in assisting fraternities and sororities in shaping students’ leadership, scholastic, and personal development. Given the risks such as alcohol use and hazing that continue to be associated with Greek life, faculty advisors also need to be actively involved in enforcing various policies to ensure student safety. In this paper, the authors review some of the problems that cause a liability risk to Greek life and they offer examples from their own experience as faculty advisors to two fraternities to help manage the risk.
In 1999, Penn State's alcohol-free program, LateNight (LNPS), was chosen by the U.S. Department of Education as a “model” program under its Safe and Drug Free Schools and Communities competition. The mission of LNPS is to provide university students with entertainment during prime social times, 9:00 p.m. through 2:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 9:00 p.m. through 12:00 midnight on Thursdays, in an alcohol-free environment. LateNight also provides opportunities for members of student campus organizations to gain experience in programming, leadership development, and responsible social interaction. The LNPS program evaluation results show that dance programs, arts and crafts, and pottery were rated highest among participants, and most participants believe attending LNPS programs results in less alcohol use for themselves and for others.
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