Campus-led alcohol-free programming, which provides students with attractive leisure alternatives to drinking on weekend nights is a strategy used by many colleges. A new study aimed at extending a previous study that found that students drank less on weekend nights they attended LateNight Penn State (LNPS) activities during their first semester of college. Participants (N = 730) were students attending a large Northeastern university. Longitudinal data was collected during seven semesters as participants completed daily diary surveys, which asked about their daily activities (i.e., attending LNPS, going out, or staying in) and substance use (i.e., total number of drinks, binge/high intensity drinking, and any illegal substance use. The authors used generalized linear mixed models to estimate alcohol and illegal substance use on weekend days as a function of LNPS attendance, gender, legal drinking status, and day of the weekend. Results showed that participants consumed fewer drinks and had lower odds of any drinking and binge drinking on weekend days they attended LNPS compared to weekend days they went out. Moreover, participants who attended LNPS more frequently consumed fewer drinks and had fewer any drinking and binge drinking days across the semesters. Gender differences revealed that males consumed more drinks on the average weekend day, but no such differences were found in the likelihood of any drinking or binge drinking. Furthermore, participants aged 21 or older consumed more drinks on the average weekend day and had more any drinking and binge drinking weekend days than underage participants. General levels of alcohol use were higher on Fridays and Saturdays than on Thursdays. Also, participants were less likely to engage in high-intensity drinking or illegal substance use on weekend days they attended LNPS in comparison to weekend days they went out. Participants who attended LNPS more frequently across the semesters in college reported fewer high-intensity drinking and illegal substance use days. Lastly, legal drinking status moderated the association between LNPS attendance and alcohol and illegal substance use such that levels of use were lowest for participants who were underage on weekend days they attended LNPS.
Take away: Participants who attended LNPS used alcohol and illegal substances less in general and less on days they participated in the program compared to days they where they did not participate.