College students have shown to exhibit higher rates of alcohol and drug use than non-students and peers have been shown to influence this behavior. Previous research mainly focuses on deviant peers. The current study looks at whether peers who engage in positive behavior are related to decreased substance use among college students.
The final sample included 382 college students between the ages of 18-25 years from a large, public Midwestern university. Substance use was assessed by looking at frequency of marijuana, cigarettes, drinking to intoxication, binge drinking, and drunk driving. Positive and deviant peer affiliation was measured using the Deviant Peer Group Affiliation scale. This survey included questions about negative and positive activities such as “How many of your friends got drunk” and “How many of your friends do or have done volunteer work?” Sensation-seeking assessed novelty and reward seeking by having participants scale examples such as “I like doing things just for the thrill of it.” Future orientation and self-regulation were also measured in this study.
Just over half of participants reported no marijuana or cigarette use. 17% reported on occasion of drunk driving and only 10% reported no alcohol use. Positive peer affiliation (PPA) was positively related to self-regulation and future orientation while being negatively related to substance use except for binge drinking. Deviant peer affiliation (DPA) was positively associated with substance use and sensation-seeking while being negatively associated with self-regulation and future orientation. PPA showed to lessen expression of sensation-seeking in the form of substance use. This means the correlation between sensation-seeking and substance use was stronger for participants with less positive peers. College students who have friends that engage in positive activities may have a buffer against socioemotional risk factors for substance use.
Take-Away: The current study looks at whether peers who engage in positive behavior are related to decreased substance use among college students. The final sample included 382 college students between the ages of 18-25 years. Measures included substance use, peer affiliation, sensation-seeking, future orientation, and self-regulation. Positive peer affiliation (PPA) was positively related to self-regulation and future orientation while being negatively related to substance use except for binge drinking. Deviant peer affiliation (DPA) was positively associated with substance use PPA showed to lessen expression of sensation-seeking in the form of substance use. These findings show college students who have friends that engage in positive activities may have a buffer against socioemotional risk factors for substance use.