Julia A. Martinez

Blue-Collar Scholars?: Mediators and Moderators of University Attrition in First-Generation College Students

Many college entrants’ parents do not have college degrees. These entrants are at high risk for attrition, suggesting it is critical to understand mechanisms of attrition relative to parental education. Moderators and mediators of the effect of parental education on attrition were investigated in 3,290 students over 4 years. Low parental education was a risk for attrition; importantly, college GPAs both moderated and mediated this effect, and ACT scores, scholarships, loans, and full-time work mediated this effect. Drug use, psychological distress, and few reported academic challenges predicted attrition, independent of parental education. These findings might inform interventions to decrease attrition.

Is heavy drinking really associated with attrition from college? The alcohol-attrition paradox.

Student attrition at colleges across the United States poses a significant problem for students and families, higher educational institutions, and the nations workforce competing in the global economy. Heavy drinking is a highly plausible contributor to the problem. However, there is little evidence that it is a reliable predictor of attrition. Notably, few studies take into account indicators of collegiate engagement that are associated with both heavy drinking and persistence in college. Event-history analysis was used to estimate the effect of heavy drinking on attrition among 3,290 undergraduates at a large midwestern university during a 4-year period, and student attendance at a number of college events was included as covariates. Results showed that heavy drinking did not predict attrition bivariately or after controlling for precollege predictors of academic success. However, after controlling for event attendance (an important indicator of collegiate engagement), heavy drinking was found to predict attrition. These findings underscore the importance of the college context in showing that heavy drinking does in fact predict attrition and in considering future intervention efforts to decrease attrition and also heavy drinking.

Fake ID ownership and heavy drinking in underage college students: prospective findings.

The authors examined the ownership of false identification (fake ID) for the purpose of obtaining alcohol and the relation of fake ID ownership to heavy drinking in a longitudinal sample of college students under 21 years of age. A sample of 3,720 undergraduates was assessed the summer prior to college entrance and during the 4 semesters comprising freshman and sophomore years. Regression analyses were used to estimate bidirectional relations between consumption and fake ID ownership. Sex, Greek membership, and prior drinking were controlled. Results showed that fake ID ownership increased over time (12.5% pre-college to 32.2% fourth semester) and that Greek members were more likely than others to own fake IDs. Fake ID ownership predicted concurrent and next-semester heavy drinking with increasing strength over time. Also, the acquisition (onset) of fake ID ownership at each time point was predicted by previous-semester consumption. When traditional, robust risk factors of consumption are controlled, fake ID ownership meaningfully relates to heavy drinking in college. It thus presents a significant public health problem, addressable through training for alcohol servers and retailers, punitive measures toward fake ID owners, and other possible interventions.

Two scales to evaluate cocaine craving.

The cocaine craving questionnaire-brief (CCQ-Brief English) asks cocaine users to report their level of craving now. We constructed two brief scales of cocaine craving in a sample of 107 Spanish-speaking natives in treatment for cocaine abuse or dependence: the CCQ-Brief(Spanish) and the pictographic assessment of desire (PAD), which relies less on language. Principal component analyses yielded a one-component solution for the CCQ-Brief, explaining between 62% and 68% of the sample variability. Cronbachs alpha ranged from .92 to .94. The CCQ-Brief and the PAD were strongly correlated; effect sizes ranged from .42 to .68 in separate trials. Laboratory cue-exposure results showed that in both scales craving was higher upon presentation of cocaine-related rather than neutral pictorial stimuli. The CCQ-Brief and PAD are potentially valuable scales for evaluating cocaine craving.

How Robustly Does Cannabis Use Associate to College Grades? Findings From Two Cohorts:

Along with recent changes in cannabis legalization and decriminalization, there has been an increasing amount of attention aimed at cannabis use and outcomes in college. Although some amount of cannabis use might be expected under theories of collegiate identity development, public health research indicates that cannabis use ultimately associates with negative vocational outcomes. To examine how cannabis use associates with college grade point average specifically, we surveyed n = 1,080 full-time college students and a replication sample of n = 590. Results showed that even after accounting for other measures of student identity formation and drug use, increased cannabis use was robustly associated with lower grade point average. Future research should examine the mechanisms underlying this association. Nevertheless, while laws and attitudes toward cannabis evolve, initiatives to decrease college use should continue.

A Cocktail of Extracurricular Activities (ECAs): Different ECA Combinations and Their Association With Heavy Drinking in Two College Cohorts

The activities that students participate in are important to college life and outcomes. With regard to the problem outcome of heavy drinking, some activities pose risks (e.g., fraternity/sorority life) and others are protective (e.g., religious groups), yet students often participate in multiple activities. We estimated the odds of frequent heavy drinking as a function of all 2-, 3-, and 4-activity combinations (out of 10 total activities) in 2 separate college cohorts of 1,005 and 592 students. Findings showed that activities indeed combine to form informative high- and low-risk groups for intervention and advising, adding additional insight into the theory of college involvement.

Is the deliberate self-induction of alcohol tolerance associated with negative alcohol outcomes?

Research indicates 10% of college student drinkers report deliberately training to increase alcohol tolerance (a diagnostic criterion for alcohol use disorder) to avoid passing out early or to keep up with peers. Given that tolerance training may be considered a harm reduction technique designed to reduce acute aversive consequences, we examined the associations between tolerance training and the use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS) more generally. A cross-sectional survey of 1080 lifetime drinkers was conducted at a large Midwestern university. Of this sample, 5.6% (n=60) reported training to increase their tolerance. Drinkers who endorsed having trained to increase tolerance reported notably more alcohol-related problems than those who reported never training (Madj=51.80 versus Madj=39.30; p<0.0001). Further, participants who endorsed tolerance training reported utilizing significantly fewer PBS (e.g., avoid drinking games) on the Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (PBSS, Martens et al., 2005) than participants who had never trained (Madj=16.89 versus Madj=18.90; p<0.01). An exception was that drinkers who trained to avoid passing out early used significantly more PBS (e.g., using a designated driver, knowing where your drink is at all times). Despite this, these trainers consumed more alcohol and experienced more alcohol-related harms. The present findings support previous research demonstrating that trainers consume more alcohol than non-trainers, and provide further evidence that deliberately training to increase tolerance is indicative of problematic drinking behavior. Prevention efforts might aim to inform drinkers of the problems associated with deliberately inducing alcohol tolerance, and focus on developing alternative strategies for minimizing acute harm from drinking.

Beyond punishment: the impacts of medical amnesty in a U.S. Residential college context

Abstract Despite its risks, heavy drinking is widespread at universities. Increasingly, colleges are integrating harm-reduction perspectives into traditional punishment/deterrence-based alcohol policy approaches. One such programme is the Medical Amnesty/Good Samaritan (MAGS) policy, which reduces or eliminates punishing consequences for students seeking alcohol-related emergency assistance. But beyond its specific utility of potentially saving lives, there is almost no empirical work to examine how MAGS might affect a college climate. To explore this important issue, we compared a cohort of n = 1006 pre-MAGS students to a cohort of n = 537 post-MAGS students (from the same institution), and also sub-samples of n = 448 pre-MAGS versus n = 195 post-MAGS freshmen. Findings showed fewer adverse events among post-MAGS freshmen. Furthermore, the full cohort of post-MAGS students appeared to have more positive perceptions of campus climate. Other results were mixed, inviting discussion. Nevertheless, the present work serves as a springboard for considering how harm-reduction measures can synthesise with deterrence measures to move youth policy initiatives “beyond punishment.”

What’s your ‘vice?’: a combined approach to drugs and other addictive substances and activities

Abstract A person’s use of addictive substances is generally approached one drug at a time. However, individuals readily report use of many drugs, and interestingly, individuals may also include addictive behaviors or activities (e.g. sex, gambling, computer use or shopping) as being problematic. There is not currently a brief assessment to measure both individuals’ use of drugs and their engaging in addictive behaviors in a single questionnaire; though, one might facilitate scholarly understanding of shared addiction processes and might aid increasingly burdened healthcare systems. The main purpose of this work is to offer a preliminary examination of a brief combined assessment of both drug use and addictive behaviors. Specifically, we asked a sample of n = 306 and a replication sample of n = 173 individuals from the general public to report their ‘choice’ or desired drugs and behaviors, which we termed their ‘vices’, in a single assessment. Findings showed that individuals readily reported having ‘vices’; and individuals reported an average of between 7.09 (SD = 2.66) to 8.09 (SD = 2.52) ‘vices’. Furthermore, a combined approach yielded adequate interitem reliability (Sample 1 α = 0.77, Sample 2 α = 0.79) and construct validity; also, use of the all-encompassing term ‘vices’ did not appear to affect participants’ reporting on other validated measures of drug use. Combined drug and behavior assessments might engage resistant patients and may aid in patient-centered care and lifestyle discussions. Also, offering individuals the opportunity to ‘compare and contrast’ their drugs and addictive behaviors may direct future investigation into cognitive aspects of shared addiction processes.