“As long as it doesn't spill over into class”: harms arising from students’ alcohol use, and the role of policy in reducing them

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Abstract

While there is considerable evidence about the prevalence of student alcohol use, little empirical work has examined the range and level of exposure to alcohol-related risks facing student populations, and the views of key stakeholders about these. This study was conducted at a large multi-campus university in order to gauge the scale and severity of students’ alcohol-related problems, and ways in which these may be mitigated. Student perspectives on campus based policy making with respect to alcohol were also canvassed. This study utilised a range of evaluative instruments, including standardised questionnaire protocols, structured interviews and focus groups. Data gained from students showed a large level of exposure to alcohol-related harm, and staff informants reported student harms such as drink-driving, interpersonal aggression, social nuisance, inadequate security, sexually risky behaviour, and physical malaise. As a group, students seem receptive to campus-based policies that have a harm reduction focus, but are less supportive of institutionalised measures aimed at the student body. Given the divergence of views about the harms arising from student drinking, and a general repudiation of institutional policy measures which may lessen these, the development of harm-reducing policy on alcohol remains challenging.

Introduction

Commencing postsecondary education is an important transition for young people and is associated with many personal, social, and academic challenges (Pratt, 2000).

Roche and Watts (1999) have recently observed “Within the space of a few weeks or months most first-year university students are granted permission to drink, drive, vote and enter university. Few other major life landmarks cluster together within such a relatively short space of time” (p. 389). Coupled with these significant markers of independence is the fact that university offers new and wider friendship circles, exposure to different behavioural morés, and newfound release from parental control and value systems.

Despite the fact that student drinking was one of the earliest objects of the scientific gaze in the addiction literature (Straus & Bacon, 1953), little research has been done in Australian postsecondary institutions. In view of such limited evidence, it is difficult to identify the harms related to postsecondary drinking and to develop ways to minimise these.

In a recent study on Australian university students, Roche and Watts (1999) found that nearly half of the males reported drinking to intoxication at least once per week, as did one fifth of the females. Further, over half of the respondents reported negative consequences as a result of their drinking (e.g. regretting something said or done, having damaged objects or clothing, missing classes or work commitments). Harms described in US studies include risk of injury due to falls, assaults, and motor vehicle accidents, unprotected sex (with concomitant risk of disease transmission, and/or unwanted pregnancy), sexual assault (as victim or perpetrator), compromised academic and/or vocational performance, relationship difficulties, and damage to personal reputation (Wechsler & Isaac, 1992).

While alcohol use tends to decrease after students leave tertiary settings and assume greater levels of personal and vocational responsibility (Bachman, Wadsworth, O'Malley, Johnston & Schulenberg, 1997), there is a sub-set for whom this may not be the case (Fillmore, 1988, O'Neill, Parra & Sher, 2001, Schulenberg et al., 2001, Vik, Carello & Field, 2000, Weingardt, Baer, Kivlahan, Miller & Marlatt, 1998) and ongoing risk exposure remains of concern. Further, alcohol is often used by young people in conjunction with other licit (especially tobacco) and illicit drugs (especially cannabis), which in turn leads to wider risks.

Concern about the consumption of alcohol in the college and university environment has led to the implementation of alcohol education programmes in many North American campuses (Babor, Aguirre, Marlatt & Clayton, 1999, Newcombe & Bender, 1986, Walters, Bennett & Noto, 2000, Werch, Pappas & Castellon-Vogel, 1996). Alcohol-education resources are typically allocated to primary and secondary school settings, while students in university settings, who (in Australia) are legally entitled to purchase and consume alcohol virtually as soon as they commence university, are more difficult to reach with specific health-promotion messages about alcohol. Consequently, a risk exists that well-intentioned interventions will target a sub-group of highly motivated students, whose behaviour is lower-risk. In addition, programmes which lack both face and ecological validity are likely to be resisted and rejected by the very group at whom they are aimed.

Information about student perspectives (e.g. relating to levels of consumption and harm(s) experienced) is lacking. There is currently a dearth of research relating to student perspectives on campus alcohol policy, in spite of the fact that policy development and implementation is seen as a critical component of settings-based approaches to harm minimisation (Horgen & Brownell, 1998).

The aim of this project, therefore, was to gain a better understanding of factors, which might promote and/or inhibit campus-based initiatives aimed at reducing alcohol-related harms. A range of stakeholder perspectives about alcohol use and misuse by university students, the associated harms, and attitudes towards policy initiatives were canvassed.

Section snippets

Method

This project employed both quantitative and qualitative data gathering and analyses. Qualitative stages included one to one interviews with staff (academic and non-academic) across the university campuses and two student focus groups. Quantitative data were gathered from a sample of 187 students, in order to gauge alcohol use and harm exposure. As this study was not primarily concerned with describing prevalence of alcohol misuse, data pertaining to alcohol use and harms experienced were used

Key informant perspectives about alcohol harms and benefits on campus

Informants’ views ranged from the perspective that alcohol use by students is relatively unproblematic, through to serious concerns about the welfare of students and those affected by their alcohol use. The range of views expressed is summarised as a matrix in the Appendix. Detailed accounts of respondents’ views are provided below.

Discussion

This study explored stakeholder perspectives and experiences relating to the issue of university students’ alcohol consumption, and ways in which policy initiatives can address this. A number of sometimes contradictory themes and trends have emerged from the data and exploration of these may shed some light on the historical difficulties implementing campus-based initiatives aimed at reducing students’ alcohol consumption and/or commensurate harms. These difficulties may be particularly

Conclusions

By combining quantitative and qualitative data gathering techniques, and by pursuing a new line of enquiry (student attitudes to alcohol-related policy), these findings shed light on the complexities of undertaking campus-based initiatives on student alcohol use. Perspectives were elicited from a wide range of stakeholders, and these reflected broad, often conflicting experiences and attitudes about the extent to which alcohol use by students should be constructed as problematic. Students

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      Whilst reported benefits of student drinking include an enhanced social life, self-confidence and fun/humour (Orford, Krishnan, Balaam, Everitt, & van Der Graaf, 2004), such high levels of alcohol consumption have been found to have negative impacts on student's studies, finances, and physical and mental health (Bewick et al., 2008; Dodd et al., 2010). Such harms may include: intentional (e.g. assaults) and unintentional (e.g. falls, road traffic incidents) injury; unprotected sex (increasing risks of sexual transmitted infections or unwanted pregnancy); compromised academic achievement; relationship problems; financial issues; and criminal consequences (affecting future job prospects) (Perkins, 2002; Snow, Wallace, Staiger, & Stolz-Grobusch, 2003). For example, in one UK study, 77% of students agreed that their alcohol consumption was having a negative effect on their finances, 48% on their physical health and 34% on their studies (Bewick et al., 2008).

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