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COLLEGE STUDENTS’ FREQUENCY OF ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION BY AGE
Project 4: College Students’ Frequency of Alcohol Consumption by Age
Rachael Robinson
University of West Georgia
Topic:
Frequency of college students’ alcohol consumption by age group
Problem statement:
Alcohol abuse by college students can impact academic progress, as well as the physical and emotional healthof the students. The researcher would like to determine whether there are specific age groups that tend to drink alcohol more frequently in order to refine and focus strategies designed to support students who might be at risk of alcohol abuse.
Literature Review:
A review of available literature indicates that heavy alcohol consumption can have a negative impact on the success of college students. Welcome and Pereverzev (2010) state “A 10.9-11.4% higher rate of academic performance was noted among non-alcohol users”In a later study, Welcome and Pereverzev(2011) report that “The risk of resit examinations was statistically higher among alcohol users, compared to non-alcohol users by about half-times( p<0.05). Also, the average grade point of alcohol users was lower than that of the non-alcohol users.”“A study conducted by McDonald, Fleming, and Barry (1991) provided evidence to support the hypothesis that emotional and social factors that have a bearing on the amount of alcohol astudent will consume also may be related to poor academic performance”(McAloon 1994). Other research supports that depressed students more than non-depressedstudents…engage in heavy alone drinking (Christiansen, Vik, & Jarchow, 2002)
Research question:
Among the college students surveyed, what differences, if any, exist among age-groups in terms of the frequency of alcohol consumption?
Grouping variable: Age groups of college students:
16 or younger, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 or older.
Dependent variable: Alcohol consumption
Data Analysis:
Test used: The research ran a Bivariate Correlation on the survey items of Act in Part Year:Drank beer and Act in Part Year: Drank wine or liquor, obtaining a strong Pearson Correlation of 0.729. The researcher combined the two survey items into one dependent variable labeled “alcohol”. The researcher used a One Way Anova to examine the differences among age-groups in terms of frequency of alcohol consumption. This inferential statistical analysis allows for comparison among groups.
Descriptive Statistics: The descriptive statistics were used to examine the group sized and to determine whether errors existed. The small number of students in the groups of 16 and under along with 21 and older may contribute to the significant results obtained by the One Way Anova.
Results:
The researcher computed a one-way ANOVA comparing college students’ alcohol consumption by age. A significant difference was found among age groups (F(5, 23966) = 29.719, p < 0.01). Bonferroni post-hoc test revealed statistically significant differences across multiple groups. For example, students who were 18 (M =4.1463 , SD =1.36123 ) and 19 years old (M=4.0897, SD= 1.37555) scored significantly higher than those who were 21 years old (M =3.4372 , SD =1.19104 ) Results suggest that 18 and 19 year old students are drinking more frequently than 21 year old students.
Discussion:
Students’ frequent or heavy use of alcohol is noted among all age groups surveyed. Additionally, a review of the literature indicates that heavy alcohol consumption can negatively impact the academic achievement, as well as the social and emotional health college students. It appears that those that are in college at ages 18 and 19 are drinking more frequently than those of the legal drinking age of 21 years old. Rigorous enforcement of existing laws regarding under-age drinking could assist in curtailing the frequency of alcohol consumption. However, more effective strategies could be to educate students within university organization as to the hazards of heavy alcohol consumption as it relates to academic achievement, along with the emotional and physical well-being of the students.
References
Christiansen, M., Vik, P.W., & Jarchow, A. (2002).College student heavy drinking in social contexts versus alone.Addict Behavior, 27(3),393-404.
McAloon, D. T. (1994). The effect of alcohol abuse on academic achievement on two-year campuses.Community College Review, 22(1), 12.
Welcome O. M. & Pereverzev, V. A. (2010). A survey of the extent of alcohol use on academic performances of undergraduates.European Psychiatry, 25, 1336-1336.
Welcome, M. O. & Pereverzev, V. A. (2011). Risk of resit examinations among alcohol users compared to non-alcohol users. European Psychiatry,26, 128-128.
Appendix
AppendicesDescriptives
Alcohol
N / Mean / Std. Deviation / Std. Error / 95% Confidence Interval for Mean / Minimum / Maximum
Lower Bound / Upper Bound
16 or younger / 10 / 2.8000 / .91894 / .29059 / 2.1426 / 3.4574 / 2.00 / 4.00
17 / 540 / 3.9815 / 1.31765 / .05670 / 3.8701 / 4.0929 / 2.00 / 6.00
18 / 16976 / 4.1463 / 1.36123 / .01045 / 4.1258 / 4.1667 / 2.00 / 6.00
19 / 5742 / 4.0897 / 1.37555 / .01815 / 4.0541 / 4.1253 / 2.00 / 6.00
20 / 290 / 3.7517 / 1.39714 / .08204 / 3.5902 / 3.9132 / 2.00 / 6.00
21 or older / 414 / 3.4372 / 1.19104 / .05854 / 3.3221 / 3.5523 / 2.00 / 6.00
Total / 23972 / 4.1114 / 1.36534 / .00882 / 4.0941 / 4.1287 / 2.00 / 6.00
ANOVA
Alcohol
Sum of Squares / df / Mean Square / F / Sig.
Between Groups / 275.354 / 5 / 55.071 / 29.719 / .000
Within Groups / 44410.039 / 23966 / 1.853
Total / 44685.393 / 23971
Multiple Comparisons
Dependent Variable:alcohol
(I) How old will you be on December 31 of this year? / (J) How old will you be on December 31 of this year? / Mean Difference (I-J) / Std. Error / Sig. / 95% Confidence Interval
Lower Bound / Upper Bound
Tukey HSD / 18 / 16 or younger / 1.34627* / .43060 / .022 / .1191 / 2.5734
17 / .16478 / .05950 / .063 / -.0048 / .3344
19 / .05658 / .02078 / .071 / -.0027 / .1158
20 / .39454* / .08062 / .000 / .1648 / .6243
21 or older / .70907* / .06771 / .000 / .5161 / .9020
19 / 16 or younger / 1.28969* / .43084 / .033 / .0618 / 2.5176
17 / .10821 / .06127 / .488 / -.0664 / .2828
18 / -.05658 / .02078 / .071 / -.1158 / .0027
20 / .33797* / .08193 / .001 / .1045 / .5715
21 or older / .65249* / .06927 / .000 / .4551 / .8499
21 or older / 16 or younger / .63720 / .43564 / .688 / -.6043 / 1.8787
17 / -.54428* / .08892 / .000 / -.7977 / -.2909
18 / -.70907* / .06771 / .000 / -.9020 / -.5161
19 / -.65249* / .06927 / .000 / -.8499 / -.4551
20 / -.31453* / .10424 / .031 / -.6116 / -.0175
Scheffe 18 / 16 or younger / 1.34627 / .43060 / .082 / -.0866 / 2.7791
17 / .16478 / .05950 / .175 / -.0332 / .3628
19 / .05658 / .02078 / .192 / -.0126 / .1257
20 / .39454* / .08062 / .000 / .1263 / .6628
21 or older / .70907* / .06771 / .000 / .4837 / .9344
19 / 16 or younger / 1.28969 / .43084 / .111 / -.1440 / 2.7233
17 / .10821 / .06127 / .682 / -.0957 / .3121
18 / -.05658 / .02078 / .192 / -.1257 / .0126
20 / .33797* / .08193 / .004 / .0653 / .6106
21 or older / .65249* / .06927 / .000 / .4220 / .8830
21 or older / 16 or younger / .63720 / .43564 / .830 / -.8124 / 2.0868
17 / -.54428* / .08892 / .000 / -.8402 / -.2484
18 / -.70907* / .06771 / .000 / -.9344 / -.4837
19 / -.65249* / .06927 / .000 / -.8830 / -.4220
20 / -.31453 / .10424 / .105 / -.6614 / .0323
Bonferroni / 18 / 16 or younger / 1.34627* / .43060 / .027 / .0823 / 2.6103
17 / .16478 / .05950 / .084 / -.0099 / .3395
19 / .05658 / .02078 / .097 / -.0044 / .1176
20 / .39454* / .08062 / .000 / .1579 / .6312
21 or older / .70907* / .06771 / .000 / .5103 / .9078
19 / 16 or younger / 1.28969* / .43084 / .041 / .0249 / 2.5544
17 / .10821 / .06127 / 1.000 / -.0717 / .2881
18 / -.05658 / .02078 / .097 / -.1176 / .0044
20 / .33797* / .08193 / .001 / .0975 / .5785
21 or older / .65249* / .06927 / .000 / .4491 / .8558
21 or older / 16 or younger / .63720 / .43564 / 1.000 / -.6416 / 1.9160
17 / -.54428* / .08892 / .000 / -.8053 / -.2832
18 / -.70907* / .06771 / .000 / -.9078 / -.5103
19 / -.65249* / .06927 / .000 / -.8558 / -.4491
20 / -.31453* / .10424 / .038 / -.6205 / -.0085
*. The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.
alcohol
How old will you be on December 31 of this year? / N / Subset for alpha = 0.05
1 / 2
TukeyHSDa,b / 16 or younger / 10 / 2.8000
21 or older / 414 / 3.4372 / 3.4372
20 / 290 / 3.7517
17 / 540 / 3.9815
19 / 5742 / 4.0897
18 / 16976 / 4.1463
Sig. / .134 / .067
Scheffea,b / 16 or younger / 10 / 2.8000
21 or older / 414 / 3.4372 / 3.4372
20 / 290 / 3.7517
17 / 540 / 3.9815
19 / 5742 / 4.0897
18 / 16976 / 4.1463
Sig. / .298 / .183
Means for groups in homogeneous subsets are displayed.
a. Uses Harmonic Mean Sample Size = 55.582.
b. The group sizes are unequal. The harmonic mean of the group sizes is used. Type I error levels are not guaranteed.
Correlationsa
Act in Part Year: Drank beer / Act in Part Year: Drank wine or liquor
Act in Part Year: Drank beer / Pearson Correlation / 1 / .729**
Sig. (2-tailed) / .000
Act in Part Year: Drank wine or liquor / Pearson Correlation / .729** / 1
Sig. (2-tailed) / .000
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
a. Listwise N=39918