College Student Perceptions of Alcohol Use on University Campuses

Abstract

The proposed study examined the effects of gender, sensation seeking, alcohol expectancies, and perceived peer norms on alcohol consumption among college students through a biopsychosocial framework, proposing biological, psychological and social sources of influence on student alcohol use. The individual effects of the predictor variables were examined in a multiple regression model and correlational relationships between the independent variables and alcohol consumption were computed. Alcohol expectancies and peer norms were found to have moderate effects on alcohol use, gender had a small effect and sensation seeking had no effect. In addition, alcohol expectancies were found to partially mediate the relationship between perceived peer norms and alcohol use, supporting previous models of both direct and indirect effects of alcohol expectancies on alcohol consumption. Alcohol consumption rates along with the frequencies of 12 alcohol-related consequences were described for the current sample.