Spring break trips as a risk factor for heavy alcohol use among first-year college students.

Objective: Many high school and college students are believed to use spring break vacation to travel to destinations with the intent of engaging in extreme party behaviors, including excessive alcohol use. However, the extent to which spring break travelers' behaviors are more risky than their typical behaviors remains unclear.

Method: To assess the impact of spring break as a situational risk factor, we analyzed data collected from 176 first-year college students across 10 weeks using weekly telephone interviews.