Preliminary examination of spring break alcohol use and related consequences

Abstract

The authors examined the extent to which college student drinkers are at risk for experiencing negative alcohol-related consequences during Spring Break. A sample of first-year college student drinkers (N = 726) participated by completing an online survey assessing typical drinking, as well as Spring Break drinking and related consequences. Findings suggest Spring Break drinking was positively associated with alcohol-related consequences during Spring Break, even after controlling for sex and typical drinking. Furthermore, results indicated that typical drinking moderated the relationship between Spring Break drinking and expected zero-values (i.e., not reporting any Spring Break consequences), such that the association between Spring Break drinking and the likelihood of being a zero-score was less evident for those who are typically lighter drinkers. Identifying and examining temporal and contextually relevant events and associated drinking is critical for understanding and ultimately preventing extreme drinking and associated consequences associated with specific events like Spring Break, which place many students at high risk for experiencing acute harm.

Figure 1

The relationship between SB drinking and expected zero-values (i.e., the absence of SB alcohol-related negative consequences) for low (one drink), medium (seven drinks) and high (fifteen drinks) levels of typical drinks per week. Intervention and sex were included in the analyses as covariates. All predictors were mean centered to facilitate interpretation of the interaction