Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Alcohol Abuse As A Rite Of Passage: The Effect Of Beliefs About Alcohol And The College Experience On Undergraduates’ Drinking Behaviors, Lizabeth Crawford, Katherine Novak

Katherine B. Novak

Qualitative studies of alcohol’s ritual influences indicate that college undergraduates who drink heavily tend to view alcohol use as integral to the student role and feel entitled to drink irresponsibly. Our analyses, based on a standardized measure of these beliefs administered to approximately 300 students, confirmed these findings. Among our sample, beliefs about alcohol and the college experience had an effect on levels of alcohol consumption similar in magnitude to that of other variables commonly associated with a risk for heavy drinking. Moreover, the alcohol beliefs index moderated the effects of three risk factors—gender, high school drinking, and friends’ use …

Routine Activities As Determinants Of Gender Differences In Delinquency, Katherine B. Novak, Lizabeth A. Crawford

Katherine B. Novak

This study examined the extent to which gender differences in delinquency can be explained by gender differences in participation in, or response to, various routine activity patterns (RAPs) using data from the second and third waves of the National Education Longitudinal Survey of 1988. While differential participation in routine activities by gender failed to explain males’ high levels of deviance relative to females, two early RAPs moderated the effect of gender on subsequent deviant behavior. Participation in religious and community activities during the sophomore year in high school decreased, while unstructured and unsupervised peer interaction increased, levels of delinquency two …

Resisting Peer Pressure: Characteristics Associated With Other-Self Discrepancies In College Students’ Levels Of Alcohol Consumption, Lizabeth A. Crawford, Katherine B. Novak

Katherine B. Novak

Since college undergraduates tend to increase their use of alcohol to match what they perceive to be normative, the assumption has been that students who believe that others on campus drink more than they do (a common misperception) are in a vulnerable position. Taking a different perspective, we consider large other-self discrepancies in levels of alcohol consumption as indicative of a capacity to resist situational pressures that favor drinking. OLS regression was used to assess the relationship between student background characteristics, self-presentational tendencies, and a gender-specific other-self gap measure. Overall, those individuals who drank closest to what they regarded as …

Perceived Drinking Norms, Attention To Social Comparison Information, And Alcohol Use Among College Students, Katherine B. Novak, Lizabeth A. Crawford

Katherine B. Novak

Numerous studies indicate that normative campus drinking practices are important in determining college undergraduates’ use and abuse of alcohol. The purpose of this paper was to extend this literature by assessing the extent to which a dispositional susceptibility to peer influence, measured using the Attention to Social Comparison Information subscale (Lennox & Wolfe, 1984), moderates this relationships. Consistent with prior research, the perception that alcohol use and abuse are common campus activities was associated with high levels of drinking across students. Attention to social comparison information also had a direct positive effect on alcohol consumption among the undergraduates surveyed. Moreover, …

The Effects Of Role-Taking And Embarrassability On Undergraduate Drinking: Some Unanticipated Findings, Lizabeth A. Crawford, Katherine B. Novak

Katherine B. Novak

This paper focuses on the relationship between role-taking, affect, and alcohol use among college undergraduates. Role-taking is the process through which people anticipate the perspectives—expectations, evaluations, and behaviors—of others (Mead, 1934). Reflexive role-taking (i.e.,viewing oneself through the eyes of others) was significantly related to four distinct types of embarrassment. However, in opposition to our hypotheses, embarrassment resulting from becoming the center of others’ attentions was the only form of embarrassability significantly related to undergraduate drinking. Moreover, it was those students least susceptible to this type of embarrassment who were the most likely to be drinkers. While role-taking, in general, was …

Beliefs About Alcohol And The College Experience As Moderators Of The Effects Of Perceived Drinking Norms On Student Alcohol Use, Lizabeth A. Crawford, Katherine B. Novak

Katherine B. Novak

Many students view the abuse of alcohol as integral to the student role. Thus, they feel entitled to drink heavily without sanction. OLS regression was used to assess the extent to which these beliefs about alcohol and the college experience moderate the effects of descriptive and injunctive campus drinking norms on students’ levels of alcohol consumption. Overall, respondents who perceived that same-sex students on their campus drank heavily tended to drink heavily themselves. This relationship was, however, strongest among individuals who viewed the abuse of alcohol as part of being a student. Although general injunctive norms were not themselves associated …

The Effects Of Public Self-Consciousness And Embarrassability On College Student Drinking: Evidence In Support Of A Protective Self-Presentational Model, Lizabeth A. Crawford, Katherine B. Novak

Katherine B. Novak

In this article we examine the effects of public self-consciousness (PSC) and a cross-situational reactivity to embarrassing encounters (EMB) on college students’ levels of alcohol consumption by levels of perceived peer drinking. The analysis of self-report data from two undergraduate samples (n = 118 and n = 195) yielded virtually identical results and suggests that PSC and EMB affect alcohol use primarily among students with friends who drink heavily. Among these individuals, our findings are consistent with a protective self-presentational model. While PSC increased levels of alcohol consumption among students who believed drinking to be prevalent within their social circle …

Beliefs About Alcohol And The College Experience, Locus Of Self, And College Undergraduates’ Drinking Patterns, Lizabeth A. Crawford, Katherine B. Novak

Katherine B. Novak

The purpose of this study is to assess the extent to which locus of self (institutional versus impulse), measured using the Twenty Statements Test (TST), moderates the relationship between beliefs about alcohol and the college experience (BACE) and alcohol use among college undergraduates. Although the majority of our respondents listed more idiosyncratic personal characteristics and preferences than consensual social roles in response to the TST, the number of students classified as institutionals was notably higher than what has been reported within the literature. In opposition to our hypothesis that BACE would affect levels of alcohol consumption primarily among these individuals, …

Applied Communication Research, Katherine B. Novak, Judith M. Buddenbaum

Katherine B. Novak