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Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of food insecurity among students at a large mid-Atlantic publicly funded university; examine the association between food insecurity, demographic characteristics, potential financial risk factors, and self-reported physical and mental health and academic performance; and identify possible risk factors for food insecurity.Design: Cross-sectional survey.Setting: Large, public mid-Atlantic university.Participants: Two hundred thirty-seven undergraduate students.Measures: US Department of Agriculture (USDA) 18-item Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) and questions on demographics, student status, economic factors, housing stability, living arrangements, academic performance, and self-rated physical health and depression symptoms.Analysis: Multivariate logistic regression analysis.Results: Among students surveyed, 15% were food insecure; an additional 16% were at risk of food insecurity. Students who were African American, other race/ethnicity, receiving multiple forms of financial aid, or experiencing housing problems were more likely to be food insecure or at the risk of food insecurity (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] = 4.00, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.83-8.71, Pvalue < .0001; AOR = 5.26, 95% CI = 1.85-14.98, Pvalue = .002; AOR = 3.43, 95% CI = 1.85-6.37, Pvalue <.001; AOR = 8.00, 95% CI = 3.57-17.93, Pvalue < .0001, respectively). Food secure students were less likely to report depression symptoms than at-risk or food insecure students.Conclusion: Food insecurity among college students is an important public health concern that might have implications for academic performance, retention, and graduation rates. Universities that measure food insecurity among their students will be better positioned to advocate for policy changes at state and federal levels regarding college affordability and student financial assistance.

Highly caffeinated “energy drinks” (ED) are commonly consumed and sometimes mixed with alcohol. Associations between EDconsumption, risk‐taking, and alcohol‐related problems have been observed. This study examines the relationship between EDconsumption—both with and without alcohol—and drunk driving. Data were derived from a longitudinal study of college students assessed annually via personal interviews. In Year 6 (modal age 23; n =1,000), participants self‐reported their past‐year frequency of drunk driving, EDconsumption patterns (frequency of drinking alcohol mixed with energy drinks [AmED] and drinking energy drinks without alcohol [ED]), alcohol use (frequency, quantity), and other caffeine consumption. Earlier assessments captured suspected risk factors for drunk driving. Structural equation modeling was used to develop an explanatory model for the association between EDconsumption patterns and drunk driving frequency while accounting for other suspected risk factors. More than half (57%) consumed EDat least once during the past year. Among EDconsumers, 71% drank AmEDand 85% drank EDalone; many (56%) engaged in both styles of EDconsumption while others specialized in one or the other (29% drank EDalone exclusively, while, 15% drank AmEDexclusively). After accounting for other risk factors, EDconsumption was associated with drunk driving frequency in 2 ways. First, a direct path existed from EDfrequency (without alcohol) to drunk driving frequency. Second, an indirect path existed from AmEDfrequency through alcohol quantity to drunk driving frequency. Among this sample, EDconsumption with and without alcohol was common, and both styles of EDconsumption contributed independently to drunk driving frequency. Results call for increased attention to the impact of different patterns of EDconsumption on alcohol‐related consequences, such as drunk driving. College students consume energy drinks (ED) in heterogeneous ways: either exclusively with alcohol, exclusively without alcohol, or both with and without alcohol depending on the occasion. Echoing prior research, ED consumption with alcohol was associated with heavier alcohol drinking and, thereby, with more frequent drunk driving. Unexpectedly, ED consumption without alcohol also contributed additional risk for drunk driving, regardless of alcohol drinking patterns. ED consumption appears to be a marker for drunk‐driving propensity, even when ED are consumed without alcohol.

College students who engage in high‐risk drinking patterns are thought to “mature out” of these patterns as they transition to adult roles. College graduation is an important milestone demarcating this transition. We examine longitudinal changes in quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption between the college years and the 4 years after graduation and explore variation in these changes by gender and race/ethnicity. Participants were 1,128 college graduates enrolled in a longitudinal prospective study of health‐risk behaviors. Standard measures of alcohol consumption were gathered during 8 annual personal interviews (76 to 91% annual follow‐up). Graduation dates were culled from administrative data and self‐report. Spline models, in which separate trajectories were modeled before and after the “knot” of college graduation, were fit to 8 annual observations of past‐year alcohol use frequency and quantity (typical number of drinks/drinking day). Frequency increased linearly pregraduation, slightly decreased postgraduation, and then rebounded to pregraduation levels. Pregraduation frequency increased more steeply among individuals who drank more heavily at college entry. Quantity decreased linearly during college, followed by quadratic decreases after graduation. Results suggest that the postcollege “maturing‐out” phenomenon might be attributable to decreases in alcohol quantity but not frequency. High‐frequency drinking patterns that develop during college appear to persist several years postgraduation. In this young‐adult sample, college graduation was a critical turning point in alcohol drinking patterns, in that the pre‐ and post‐graduation rates of change in frequency and quantity were significantly different. Drinking frequency increased throughout college and leveled off thereafter, whereas quantity (number of drinks per drinking day) decreased steadily both during and after college. Findings extend prior research on the phenomenon of maturing out of heavy drinking patterns by focusing on college graduation as a turning point.

Background: Energy drinks are highly caffeinated beverages that are increasingly consumed by young adults. Prior research has established associations between energy drink use and heavier drinking and alcohol‐related problems among college students. This study investigated the extent to which energy drink use might pose additional risk for alcohol dependence over and above that from known risk factors.

Background: Alcohol‐impaired driving is a major public health problem. National studies indicate that about 25% of college students have driven while intoxicated in the past month and an even greater percentage drive after drinking any alcohol and/or ride with an intoxicated driver. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the change in these various alcohol‐related traffic risk behaviors as students progressed through their college experience.

This longitudinal study examined the prevalence and correlates of energy drink use among college students, and investigated its possible prospective associations with subsequent drug use, including nonmedical prescription drug use.

Nonmedical use of prescription stimulants and analgesics was assessed from personal interviews with a stratified random sample of 1,253 first-year college students ages 17 to 20 attending a large public university (86% response rate). Lifetime and past-year prevalence of nonmedical use of stimulants, analgesics, or both was 19.6%wt and 15.6%wt, respectively. Nonmedical users had significantly lower grade point averages (GPAs) in high school as compared with nonusers; in college they skipped classes more often, spent more time socializing, and spent less time studying. For example, nonmedical users of both stimulants and analgesics skipped 21 % of their college classes whereas nonusers skipped 9%. Controlling for high school GPA and other factors, past-year nonmedical use independently predicted lower college GPA by the end of the first year of college; this effect was partially mediated by skipping more classes. Nonmedical users of prescription drugs comprise a high-risk group for academic problems in college.

Underage drinking and drug use among college students are major public health concerns, yet few studies have examined these behaviors and their associated risk factors and consequences prospectively. This paper describes the sampling and recruitment methods of a longitudinal study of 1253 college students at a large, mid-Atlantic university. Incoming first-year students were screened during the unique window between high school and college in order to oversample drug users for longitudinal follow-up. Intensive recruitment strategies yielded a 95% cumulative response rate in annual interviews and semiannual surveys. The authors report preliminary results on exposure opportunity, lifetime prevalence, initiation, continuation, and cessation of substance use for alcohol, tobacco, and 10 illicit and prescription drugs during the first 2 years of college. Findings suggest that although some substance use represents a continuation of patterns initiated in high school, exposure opportunity and initiation of substance use frequently occur in college. Implications for prevention and early intervention are discussed.

The Enlargement of the European Union to the East in 2004 and 2007 gave the EU some new neighbors. Countries that were formerly part of the Soviet Union (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia) were now found on the “Eastern frontiers”. Part of the accession negotiations involved strengthening the borders with those countries, yet migration from them has increased. Based on an ethnosurvey funded by INTAS at the European Commission between 2005 and 2007 the paper explores the migration of people into the EU and elsewhere using a survey of their homelands combining quantitative and qualitative methods. The paper challenges conventional notions of migration based upon a one-way passage to a new land. It argues that recent migrations (at least post 1989) are characterized rather by temporary circulation of people and hence would not be classically called “migration”. They include both temporary employment and various kinds of studentship. The project focuses upon people who have already migrated and returned since 2004. It was found that the main destination country for migrants was Russia, reflecting the more welcoming migration policies there to fulfill labor needs. For the European Union, migrants went to Northern European countries mainly by using schemes and agencies, whilst they went to the South and the New Member States by using more informal means including networks.