NCJ Number
223017
Journal
Journal of Alcohol and Drug Education Volume: 52 Issue: 1 Dated: April 2008 Pages: 67-79
Date Published
April 2008
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This study compared the responses of college men and women on the following topics: drinking behaviors, positive expectancies regarding alcohol, and perceptions of social norms regarding drinking on campus.
Abstract
Women overall reported fewer occasions of heavy drinking and fewer drinks per occasion. Women also reported lower perceptions of drinking norms among their friends and lower levels of positive expectancies regarding alcohol effects than men. On the other hand, White women reported heavy drinking as often as White men. Since the health consequences of heavy drinking by college women are serious, health promotion programs should focus on effective strategies for reducing the positive expectations and perceived drinking norms among female students and maintain the low expectations and perceived norms where they persist. White college women should be identified as a high-risk group for prevention and intervention. The survey was conducted at California State University, Long Beach. Its 28,000 undergraduates are predominantly Asian/Pacific Islander, Latino, and White. Sixty percent of the students are female. Out of 1,256 students sampled, 917 questionnaires were completed (73-percent response rate). Alcohol use, access to alcohol, and consequences of alcohol use were determined from questions used in the Harvard School of Public Health Campus Alcohol Study (Wechsler and Kuo, 2003). The questions regarding expectancies or the consequences of alcohol use were from Johnston, O'Malley, and Bachman (2000). 2 tables and 18 references