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- All Subjects: College
- Creators: Doane, Leah
Description
The beginning of college is a period in which increased alcohol use often coincides with greater involvement in romantic relationships. Existing literature yields inconsistent findings regarding the influence of different relationship statuses on drinking behavior, perhaps because these studies have not accounted for recent changes in the way college students engage in dating/sexual relationships. In the current college environment, many students who define themselves as non-daters are nonetheless sexually active, a phenomenon referred to as the 'hook up' culture. The present study sought to address this issue by examining the effects of both relationship status and sexual activity on heavy episodic drinking (HED) among 1,467 college students over the course of their first three semesters. Results indicated that the effects of relationship status depended on whether or not an individual was sexually active. Non-dating but sexually active students reported rates of heavy drinking comparable to students who defined themselves as casual daters, but non-dating students who were not sexually active reported drinking behavior similar to those involved in committed relationships. Further, transitions between low and high risk relationship/sexual activity statuses were associated with corresponding changes in HED. Transitioning into a high risk status was associated with greater levels of heavy episodic drinking, whereas transitioning into a low risk status was associated with decreases in this behavior. Together, results indicate that engaging in nonexclusive dating or sexual relationships may play an important role in the development of problematic patterns of alcohol use during the early college years. These findings have potentially important implications both for future research and for prevention and intervention efforts targeting high risk college drinkers.
ContributorsZalewski, Suzanne (Author) / Corbin, Willaim (Thesis advisor) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Chassin, Laurie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
How adolescents cope with stress impacts all aspects of their lives and is particularly important during the transition to college, a time were adolescents are at risk for negative physical and mental health outcomes. What has not yet been studied is how coping impacts the type of romantic relationship adolescents engage in. Data from a longitudinal study, which featured baseline measures as well as twice weekly diary assessments, was used to assess how coping style, commitment level, partner conflict, and sexual risk at baseline was associated with number of romantic partners and relationship duration over the transition to college. There was no significant association between coping and number of romantic partners or relationship duration. Increased partner conflict was associated with lower relationship duration, while higher levels of commitment were associated with higher relationship durations. Adolescents' sexual risk score was negatively correlated with number of romantic partners. Limitations as well as directions for future research are discussed.
ContributorsManning, Jonathan Michael (Author) / Thao Ha, Phuong (Thesis director) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
Individuals with strong broad social motives (BSM) place high personal value on social activities and are at increased risk for heavy drinking. Those with strong BSM who also perceive that college students are heavy drinkers (high descriptive norms) might be particularly susceptible to increases in alcohol use during the transition to college, and may be likely to drink for social facilitation (social drinking motives). To test these hypotheses, we examined a mediated moderation model testing interactive effects of BSM and descriptive norms (perceptions of drinking in college) on drinking behavior, mediated by social drinking motives. Data were from 426 incoming college students and analyses were based on a subsample of 218 who reported drinking behavior at either time point. Results indicated that BSM interacted with descriptive norms to predict increases in social drinking motives from high school to college and social drinking motives in turn predicted increases in alcohol use. Probing this interaction revealed that those with high BSM and high descriptive norms experienced greater increases in social drinking motives than those with low descriptive norms. Tests of moderated indirect effects indicated that effects of BSM on drinking behavior through social drinking motives were also stronger among those with high descriptive norms. These results identify a particularly high risk group for changes in alcohol use during an important developmental period. This may have important implications for prevention and intervention methods which can attenuate college alcohol use by targeting individuals with strong BSM who perceive heavy drinking among college peers.
ContributorsCanning, Jessica Ryan (Author) / Corbin, William (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Doane, Leah (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-12