Alcohol use and related consequences among students with varying levels of involvement in college athletics.

Alcohol use, binge drinking, and substance abuse-related consequences among students with varying levels of participation in intercollegiate athletics were examined. Between October 1994 and May 1996, 51,483 students at 125 institutions answered questions about their involvement in athletics, ranging from noninvolvement to participant to leadership positions, on the long form of the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey. In comparisons with nonathletes, both male and female athletes consumed significantly more alcohol per week, engaged in binge drinking more often, and suffered more adverse consequences from their substance use.

Understanding the three national databases on collegiate alcohol and drug use.

An overview of the three major databases used to examine alcohol and other drug use habits of American college students is provided. The databases are compared in terms of purpose, study population, subject selection, method of administration, focus, utility for institutional use, and trend analyses. The authors conclude that no one source of data is "best.

Alcohol use in the Greek system: follow the leader?

Objective: This study was designed to identify drinking patterns, consequences of use, and belief systems about alcohol among college students according to their level of involvement in campus fraternity and sorority life.

Method: This study of 25,411 (15,100 female) students who completed the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey, from 61 institutions, compared alcohol consumption, binge drinking, consequences of use and beliefs about drinking according to students' level of involvement in fraternities and sororities, ranging from no involvement to that of attending functions only, to active involvement, to leadership positions within Greek organizations.

Results: Analyses indicated that students in the Greek system averaged significantly more drinks per week, engaged in heavy drinking more often and, with minor exceptions, suffered more negative consequences than non-Greeks.

Weapon carrying and substance abuse among college students.

Results from administering the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey on 61 US campuses during the 1994/95 academic year were analyzed to assess weapon carrying among college students. Seven percent of the 26,225 students (11.1% of the men and 4.

Average weekly alcohol consumption: drinking percentiles for American college students.

Data obtained from 44,433 students who reported the average number of drinks they consumed per week in response to the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey at 105 college campuses between October 1994 and June 1996 are discussed. The majority of the students indicated that, on an average weekly basis, they consumed little or no alcohol. Forty-eight percent of the students at 2-year schools and 38% of the students at 4-year schools reported consuming no alcoholic drinks per week.

SARs of annonaceous acetogenins in rat liver mitochondria.

The Annonaceous acetogenins represent a class of compounds with diverse bioactivities, including promising cytotoxicites. These are due, at least in part, to inhibition of complex I in the oxidative phosphorylation pathway in mitochondria. Fourteen Annonaceous acetogenins were tested in a rat liver mitochondrial oxygen uptake assay to probe additional structure-activity relationships.

Beyond performance enhancement: polypharmacy among collegiate users of steroids.

The extremely low prevalence of steroid use among college students makes it virtually impossible to conduct analyses on any single college campus. By studying a cohort of 58,625 college students from 78 institutions that administered the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey in 1990 and 1991, a critical mass of 175 users on which it was possible to conduct statistical analyses was identified. Compared with a randomly selected group of nonusers, the steroid users reported consuming dramatically more alcohol and demonstrated higher rates of binge drinking.

An instrument to assess adolescent alcohol involvement.

This study was the beginning of a validation process for the Presley Adolescent Alcohol Scale (PAAS). The instrument is intended for youth of ages 11 to 24 and involves six subscales: Quantity and Frequency of Use, School Functioning, Family Functioning, Social Functioning, Driving and Legal Functioning, Physical and Psychological Functioning. Items identify Use, Misuse, Problematic Use, and Dependency.

Development of the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey: initial findings and future directions.

To assist universities in obtaining accurate information about the effectiveness of their efforts to prevent substance abuse, a committee of grantees of the US Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) developed an assessment tool known as the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey. This self-report instrument is designed to examine the nature, scope, and consequences of the use of alcohol and other drugs among college students. To date, the survey has been administered to nearly half a million students on 800 campuses, and the findings have been aggregated to create what is presently the largest national database on substance use in the higher education setting.