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. 2010 Jun;35(6):572-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2010.01.008. Epub 2010 Jan 29.

Attendance at alcohol-free and alcohol-service parties and alcohol consumption among college students

Jill Wei  1 , Nancy P Barnett, Melissa Clark
Affiliations

Attendance at alcohol-free and alcohol-service parties and alcohol consumption among college students

Jill Wei et al. Addict Behav. 2010 Jun.

Abstract

Objective: To examine attendance at alcohol-service and alcohol-free parties among college students, and to compare alcohol consumption on nights of these parties.

Method: A random sample of 556 students (38.6% male) completed a web survey that measured past-semester alcohol use, alcohol-service party attendance, alcohol-free party attendance, and alcohol consumed on the nights of recent parties.

Results: Participants were twice as likely to attend alcohol-service parties as they were to attend alcohol-free parties (90% vs. 44%). First-year students and Black students were more likely than other students to attend alcohol-free parties. Alcohol use was higher in students who attended alcohol-service parties but there were no differences in levels of alcohol use between students who attended alcohol-free parties and those who did not. Pre-gaming was more prevalent, but the number of drinks and intoxication were lower on nights of alcohol-free parties than on nights of alcohol-service parties.

Conclusions: The lack of association between attendance at alcohol-free parties and alcohol use indicates both heavy and light drinkers attend these parties. The lower drinking and intoxication on alcohol-free party nights suggests alcohol-free programming should be investigated to determine if it may reduce alcohol use on college campuses.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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