David J. Hanson

Boozing and brawling on campus: A national study of violent problems associated with drinking over the past decade

There has been an increase in alcohol-related violent crime in the United States since the early 1980s. Concomitantly there has been a decrease in per capita consumption of alcohol. Cultural Theory suggests that students will follow the trends of society in terms of behaviors such as alcohol consumption and violence related to drinking. Subcultural Theory, on the other hand, suggests that these behaviors will reflect subcultural rather than societal trends. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine possible changes in drinking patterns and violent behavior related to drinking from 1982 until 1991 with the same sample of universities from all contiguous states in the United States. A secondary purpose was to test the Cultural and Subcultural models of behavior. Based on a sample over 4,000 students, at each of four time periods over the past decade, a significant (p

Reactance Theory: A Test with Collegiate Drinking:

Reactance theory suggests that attempting to prevent alcohol consumption among underage college students will create reactance motivation and lead to increased drinking among such students. Since July of 1987, it has been illegal throughout the USA for those under 21 yr. of age to purchase alcohol. In a national sample of 3,375 college students during the 1987–1988 academic year, significantly more underage students were found to drink. This relationship is in marked contrast to the pattern documented by research extending back to the early 1950s and is interpreted as supporting reactance theory.

College students' drinking problems : a national study, 1982-1991

The drinking problems of college students from every state in the continental United States were examined in 1982 (n = 4,405), 1985 (n = 3,453), 1988 (n = 4,343), and 1991 (n = 3,907). Observed were increases in 10 of the 17 problems studied and decreases in four; three of the decreases were in driving-related problems.

DRINKING GAMES AND PROBLEMS RELATED TO DRINKING AMONG MODERATE AND HEAVY DRINKERS

The playing of drinking games, the quantity-frequency of alcohol consumption, and various problems related to drinking were assessed among a national sample of 3,830 alcohol consuming students from 58 American colleges and universities during the 1990–1991 academic year. Among Light-Moderate drinkers, a significantly higher proportion of students who had played a drinking game experienced 15 of 17 drinking-related problems. On the other hand, among Heavy drinkers there was little difference between game and nongame players. A higher percentage of game players had experienced five of the problems. Generally, for many problems, more than twice as many Heavy drinkers among both game and nongame players had exhibited the problem compared to more moderate drinkers. It was concluded that game playing appeared to increase problems related to alcohol primarily among more moderate drinkers whereas those who were heavy drinkers were exhibiting more problems regardless of their game-playing status. Education about the effect of game playing among students who are moderate drinkers should be addressed.

The Drinking Behaviors of a Sample of University Students in Nanning, Guangxi Province, People's Republic of China

A Chinese translation of the Student Alcohol Questionnaire was administered to a sample of 190 students at two universities in Nanning, China. Males consumed alcohol significantly more frequently and in greater quantities than did females. A significantly higher proportion of males also experienced problems resulting from their drinking. Beer was the alcoholic beverage of choice for both males and females. Most students of both genders drank with friends, and most have also consumed with their parents; about half reported that their parents approved of their alcohol consumption. The results support earlier observations that moderate drinking is widely accepted in the Chinese culture and results in few problem.

The drinking patterns of American and Polish University Students: a cross-national study

A study of 3375 American and 1408 Polish university students was accomplished to test the hypotheses that cultural differences influence drinking patterns and beverage preferences between countries. Using the same questionnaire in both samples, the results revealed that significantly (P less than 0.001) more drinks per week were consumed by both Polish male (24.9) and female (15.2) students compared to American male (15.0) and female (7.6) students. Significantly (P less than 0.001) more wine was consumed by Polish (8.7) compared to the American (0.8) students. American female students consumed more beer than Polish female students. There was no difference between beer and spirits consumption between American and Polish males and Polish students in latter school years consumed more alcohol compared to students in the first years of school. It was concluded that the samples of students in this study reflected their cultures in terms of drinking patterns and beverage preference.

COLLEGE STUDENTS' DRINKING ATTITUDES: 1970-1982

The drinking attitudes of 1,582 college students at 37 colleges in 1970 were compared to those of 710 students at 14 same or matched institutions in 1982. The results suggest little change in such attitudes over the 12 yr.

Drinking Problems Among Jewish College Students in the United States and Israel

This is an Authors Accepted Manuscript of an article in the Journal of Social Psychology,128(3):415-417,1988, copyright Taylor & Francis. DOI/link to publishers version not available.

Dogmatism and college major.

Stern with Stein and Bloom (1956) has suggested that because of their inflexibility and intolerance of ambiguity, authoritarians would demonstrate preference for college courses in relatively non-abstract, practical, applied areas such as medicine, law, engineering and business vis-a-vis those in abstract or expressive areas such as the humanities and social sciences. His research (Stern, Stein, & Bloom, 1956) with the Inventory of Beliefs, Martoccias study (1964) with an instrument utilizing the Pensacola Z Scale, and Hansons findings (1967) with an instrument utilizing selected subscales from the Stereopathy-Acquiesence Scales support his hypothesis. To test the applicability of Sterns hypothesis to the related concept of dogmatism, the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale (Form E) along with an item to identify actual or intended academic major was administered during class to (a) freshmen and sophomore students enrolled in sections of introductory sociology and to ( b ) junior and senior students enrolled in educational psychology at the State University College at Potsdam. The freshmen and sophomores were categorized according to academic major (language = 27, science = 27, social science = 81, mach = 17 and humanities = 18) as were the juniors and seniors (language = 6, science = 2, social science = 23, math = 3 and humanities = 2 ) . Analysis of variance was performed separately for underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) and upperclassmen ( juniors and seniors). For the latter no significant difference in dogmatism scores existed while for the former there was (F = 7.31, df = 4/165, p < .01). However, an analysis of dogmatism scores between specific academic majors by means of t tests showed only one significant difference ( t = 13.88, df = 42, p < .001) and in the predicted direction-between language and mach majors. All other means did not approach significance. These data, therefore, fail to sopport the applicability of Sterns hypothesis to dogmatism.

Dogmatism and Women's Liberation

A review of literature on womens liberation suggested that the contributors tend to exhibit many of the personality traits characteristic of dogmatism as explicated by Rokeach (1960). This led to the hypothesis that supporters of the womens liberation movement would score higher on the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale than would those not so categorized. To test this hypothesis, Troldahl and Powells (1965) 20-item form of the Dogmatism Scale was administered, along with 18 filler items, to those individuals who attended a womens liberation interest meeting in a small college community. Those adults who completed the instrument ( N = 6 ) , along with the college students who completed it ( N = 8 ) , constituted the two womens liberation groups examined. In the adult control group were 10 adults from a department store snack bar in the college community, while the student controls were 32 students from the college snack bar. The mean dogmatism score of students at the meeting ( M = 83.75, SD = 12.85) was 2.28 points higher than that of the student control group ( M = 81.47, SD = 10.20). Similarly, adults in the interest group eacned a mean ( M = 82.33, SD = 13.39) which was 8.83 points higher than that of the adult control group ( M = 73.50, SD = 9.55). (In the latter case, t = 2.11, while a value of 2.14 is necessary for significance at the 5% level when df = 14.) Thus, while these differences were both in the expected direction, neither reached significance at the 5% level. This lack of significance should be checked by repeating the study, utilizing larger Ns.