Dangerous alcohol consumption remains the top public health concern on college campuses throughout the United States. The acute effects of harmful drinking in undergraduate students include physiological harm, psychological impairment, and a reduction in public and interpersonal safety. The long-term consequences of drinking in college students have been associated with decreased measures of academic performance, mental health, and general well-being. Because of the deleterious nature of dangerous drinking, it is important that the motivating factors and influences behind the behavior become more delineated to design better strategies for mitigating risk. This study examines the association between college student drinking and civic engagement prior to enrollment.
The study’s sample is composed of 220 first year undergraduate students from a large private university in the western United States (N=220, 68% female). Participants completed a baseline survey in the Fall semester of their first year in addition to a follow-up survey during the Spring semester. The following measures were included in the surveys: demographics, college alcohol problems (via College Alcohol Problems Scale), flourishing (via Mental Health Continuum instrument), college self-efficacy (via College Self-Efficacy Instrument), history of civic acts, history of campus-based civic acts. The data was analyzed using logistic regression analysis and hierarchical modelling.
Results of the analysis found general protective effects of civic act history on anticipate drinking problems. An increase in civic engagement prior to enrollment in college was associated with a lower probability of developing alcohol-related problems during the first year at the university. This effect held true when controlling for personal factors and family history. Increased civic engagement prior to college was also associated with increased flourishing scores. Civic engagement during the first year of college did not predict the development of alcohol problems.
Takeaway: civic engagement prior to beginning undergraduate education is suggested to decrease the likelihood of drinking problem development in first year undergraduate students in addition to increasing scores related to flourishing.