Low levels of fitting in on campus moderates the relationship between enhancement drinking motives and drinks per week among college students.

Addict Behav

Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University School of Public Health, United States. Electronic address:

Published: December 2023

AI Article Synopsis

  • First-year college students often show increased alcohol consumption and have varied feelings about fitting in on campus.
  • The study aimed to investigate how the perception of fitting in might influence the relationship between drinking motives (social and enhancement) and weekly alcohol consumption.
  • Results indicated that while social drinking motives had no significant impact, a low sense of fitting in was associated with a stronger link between enhancement motives and alcohol intake, suggesting that improving fitting in perceptions may help reduce alcohol consumption in students.

Article Abstract

The first year of college is often marked by increased levels of alcohol consumption; first-year students also vary in their sense of fitting in on campus. Research has amply documented the links between social and enhancement drinking motives with various alcohol outcomes among college students. However, it is unclear how perceived levels of fitting in on campus potentially buffers or amplifies the relationship between drinking motives and drinking behavior. We explored whether perceptions of fitting in on campus moderated effects of social and/or enhancement drinking motives on drinks per week. A sample of 121 heavy drinking first year college students (50 % female, 58 % non-Latinx White, M = 18 years of age) were assessed twice in their first semester (baseline, 3 months) in the context of an alcohol-specific intervention. Hierarchical linear regressions were conducted to test whether drinking motives (social and enhancement) at baseline prospectively predicted drinks per week at 3 months. We hypothesized a positive association between both drinking motives and drinks per week; whether fitting in moderates these relationships was exploratory. Regression analyses yielded non-significant main effects of social motives, enhancement motives, and feelings of fitting in on drinks per week. There was no significant interaction for social motives, but the interaction between enhancement motives and fitting in was significant. Participants with a low sense of fitting in had a strong positive relationship between enhancement motives and drinks per week. Improving perceptions of fitting in for first-year college students may potentially reduce the association between enhancement drinking motives and drinks per week.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10528142PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107831DOI Listing

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