NCJ Number
223816
Journal
Journal of Drug Education Volume: 38 Issue: 1 Dated: 2008 Pages: 15-26
Date Published
2008
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article examines the sources of alcohol for underage college students.
Abstract
The article reports that alcohol was easy to obtain from a variety of sources, with friends/acquaintances of legal age or those with a false ID as being the most common. Parties were also common sources, but “shoulder tapping,” that is, asking a stranger to purchase alcohol was not common. The work notes that disagreement arose over whether underage fraternity/sorority members have greater access to alcohol than non-Greeks. These results are said to provide updated information on the various sources of alcohol and associated issues among underage college students. It was noted that alcohol consumption and related problems are common among underage college students, yet qualitative, in-depth information on how/where these students obtain alcohol was said to be limited. The information was obtained by the conduct of focus groups pertaining to access to alcohol and related issues with 19 underage college students. This small sample was recruited from the University of Minnesota, and the participants were between 18 to 20 years of age. The procedure involved the use of a project coordinator and a trained focus group moderator who conducted group discussions following standard focus group procedures. Standard qualitative analysis was used to identify themes from transcripts of the session. Tables, references