Search

Research suggests that high school students who participate in sports may be at elevated risk for alcohol use compared to their non-athlete peers; however, reasons for this association are unclear. Alcohol expectancy theory posits that individuals who expect favorable outcomes to occur because of alcohol use are more likely to drink than those who do not endorse such beliefs. As such, the present study was designed to examine the associations of alcohol expectancy outcomes and valuations (i.e., beliefs about whether an outcome is good or bad), as well as alcohol expectancies related to sports functioning (e.g., alcohol's effects on one's ability to learn new plays and recover physically from sporting activities), with risky drinking among high school athletes. Participants were 219 in-season high school athletes (mean age = 15.6, range = 13-18) who completed anonymous self-report surveys. A structural equation model indicated that endorsement of positive alcohol expectancy outcomes and favorable evaluations of negative expectancy outcomes were associated with higher levels of risky drinking. Conversely, greater endorsement of negative athletic-functioning drinking expectancies was associated with lower levels of risky drinking. Future research considerations and implications for intervention efforts targeting high school athletes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective and Participants: The authors designed this cross-sectional study to examine sports team differences in hazardous alcohol use and drinking game participation, as well as the social correlates of these behaviors among female college athletes (N = 176; M age = 19.9 years, SD = 1.24, range = 18-22). Methods: Respondents completed self-report surveys in small groups. They reported drinking behaviors, frequency of team social events involving alcohol use, and team cohesion. Results: The authors found significant differences across sports teams with regard to hazardous alcohol use and participation in drinking games with teammates. Findings also revealed that a high frequency of team social events involving alcohol use was associated with elevated use and an increased likelihood of drinking game participation. Conclusions: The authors discuss future research directions and implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examined relations among different measures of acculturation, and between acculturation and sexual behavior, in a sample of female Cuban American college students (n = 61, M age = 18.4 years) who completed self-report surveys. In the first set of analyses, weak to moderate associations emerged among 4 measures of acculturation (birthplace, childhood language use, current language use, and ethnic identity), suggesting that inconsistent findings from prior research may have resulted from measurement limitations. In multivariate analyses, the authors examined predictors of sexual behavior and found that 1 aspect of acculturation (higher levels of ethnic identity) and back-ground characteristics (being older and less religious) were associated with voluntary sexual intercourse. Moreover, higher levels on a sexual risk composite were associated with being born in the United States, more ethnically identified, older, and less religious. These analyses highlight the need for specificity in assessing acculturation in a college student population and support the need to examine cultural factors directly in sexuality research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the protective role of personal identity consolidation against health risk behaviors in college-attending emerging adults. METHODS: A multisite sample of 1546 college students completed measures of personal identity consolidation and recent risk behavior engagement. RESULTS: Multivariate Poisson regression indicated that personal identity consolidation was negatively related to binge drinking, illicit drug use, sexual risk behaviors, and risky driving. These findings were consistent across gender, ethnicity, and place of residence. CONCLUSIONS: A consolidated sense of personal identity may protect college-attending emerging adults from health-compromising behaviors. Health professionals could incorporate an identity development component into college health programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]