goals of this study were to modify efficacy and outcome expectancies related to moderate alcohol consumption through written communications and determine subsequent changes in behavioral intentions to consume alcohol. Furthermore, two theoretical models which have attempted to conceptualize the relationships between efficacy and outcome expectancies with regards to their predictive utility were evaluated. The results indicated that outcome and efficacy expectancies related to moderate alcohol use were affected by information specifically targeting them. The results did not find support for the hypothesis that negative and positive outcome information would significantly effect perceived efficacy. Nor were main effects found for efficacy information on either positive or negative outcome expectancies. However, a two-way interaction of negative outcome by efficacy on negative interpersonal outcome expectancies were observed. Subjects who were exposed to low efficacy and low negative outcome information indicated higher expectations that negative outcomes would happen to them if they drank in moderation relative to individuals exposed to high efficacy and low negative outcome information. The study found no support for effects of expectancy information on any of the intentions to drink indices. However, post hoc analyses indicated partial support for the hypothesis that past alcohol use moderates the effects of expectancy information on intentions to consume alcohol. In testing the relative utility of outcome and efficacy expectancies in predicting different indices of alcohol use it was found that efficacy expectancies consistently predicted a significant proportion of variance in subject's future drinks per occasion and future frequency of heavy drinking occasions. outcome expectancies were unable to add to the prediction of future drinks per occasion or future frequency of heavy drinking occasions. Several of the drinking indices assessed in this study were individualized for each subject. The utility of this approach is discussed in the paper. The study's results are interpreted in relation to different theorists conceptualizations of the relationship between outcome and efficacy expectancies and directions for future research are discussed. / Master of Science

America’s college campuses have contributed directly to two contemporary international trends: secularization and the “spiritual rather than religious” movement. In history and in the present, one channel through which spirituality and religion has been forged in America is through its tenuous relationship with conscious-altering substances, including alcohol: its consumption and its regulation. This relationship has historically been the ‘battleground’ for the ‘fight’ that has precipitated evolution in the practices and sociology of religion and spirituality. The current project explores pertinent history and practice of religion and spirituality on the campus of America, its colleges and universities. This research and its dissemination is directed towards individual and institutional policy-makers and decision-makers, who, equipped with this knowledge, can impact the human experience for the better: one decision, one policy or one person at a time, ideally at an accelerated rate — towards the purpose and ongoing realization of a more happy and healthy world.

The prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders is rapidly increasing among college students. The use of real time monitoring in conjunction with contingency management procedures to reduce alcohol consumption has only recently been developed. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to learn more about natural patterns of alcohol consumption in college-aged adults. A second goal was to evaluate a novel, handheld technology for obtaining reliable samples over extended time periods. College students were given a SoberLinkTM SL2 breathalyzer for eight weeks to monitor their drinking behaviors and asked to self-report the number of drinks consumed each day. Participants received one to three text messages per day to provide breath samples and earned monetary rewards for submitting samples within the allotted time. The results of this study showed that college students tend to consume alcohol during the evening hours and mostly on the weekends. There was a weak to medium correlation between average breath alcohol concentration and conditional average drinks. Compliance with prompts ranged between 77 and 84 percent and monetary earnings ranged between $152 and $160. Naturalistic observations of college drinking may aid in the development of interventions to prevent excessive drinking and the SL2 breathalyzer may have great potential to be used in a number of therapeutic approaches.

Since the inception of the Higher Education Reauthorization Act of 1998 by the United States Congress, there has been limited research conducted on parental notification policies on campuses of Higher Education concerning alcohol and drug offenses committed by students. This study surveyed parents of incoming freshmen at the University of North Texas regarding their perceptions of Parental Notification policies and their perceptions of underage alcohol offenses by gender, age, ethnicity, and parental status. The relationship between parental notification and underage alcohol offenses was also examined. This study, conducted in the summer of 2002, at the University of North Texas had 539 respondents. An instrument developed to determine parental perceptions of underage alcohol use and parental notification consisted of 20 dichotomous questions. Chi-square tests of independence were used to analyze the data because it could calculate the relationships between two sets of nominal data. Data show that most parents want to be notified in all situations involving underage alcohol offenses and their offspring. Generally, parents do not believe their offspring will use alcohol underage as they enter college and that they are not binge drinkers. Females want to be notified about their student's underage alcohol offenses at a higher rate than males. Males want to be notified at a higher rate than females if using alcohol jeopardizes housing or enrollment in school for their student. Native Americans have great concern for their students in all areas of alcohol use and binge drinking. Parents should stay actively involved in the lives of their offspring as they attend institutions of higher education as well as stay involved with the University community in which their student attends.

Problem alcohol use has far-reaching economic, intra-, and interpersonal consequences. One particularly hazardous form of drinking pertains to the consumption of alcohol as a means of regulating stress, or drinking to cope. As such, it is critical to identify pathways through which stress-related alcohol use occurs, as well as protective factors which may mitigate the aforementioned consequences. To achieve this, I conducted three studies examining these topics at multiple levels of analysis among two at risk populations for engaging in problematic drinking: College students and military service members. Study 1 is a published manuscript examining the association between personality, a known vulnerability factor, and daily alcohol use among college students. This study tested whether these associations were mediated by the utilization of daily coping behaviors. Study 2 is an exploration of the association between of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and alcohol involvement among employed service members. I conducted conditional process analysis to determine whether the indirect association of PTSS on alcohol involvement through coping motivations was conditional on one's perceived level of social support. Finally, Study 3 examined how daily experiences of occupational stressors influence alcohol consumption using a subsample of married and cohabiting participants from Study 2. I tested the moderating roles of coping motives and more adaptive, support-based coping strategies on work stress-daily drinking associations. Together, these studies help elucidate why individuals typically drink when stressed, who may be more apt to do so, and under what conditions these effects hold true.

The focus of this treatise is to explore the attitudes and perceptions of university students towards binge drinking at a South African University. Binge drinking among university students is a serious concern, prevalent on many campuses and ingrained on university campuses worldwide. The aims of this study were (a) to describe students’ understanding of binge drinking, (b) to explore and describe university students’ attitudes towards and perceptions of binge drinking, and (c) to explore the contextual factors relating to binge drinking within a university setting. An exploratory, qualitative approach was utilized. The collection of data was initiated using a biographical questionnaire to identify participants relevant to the study. The data collection process continued with semi‐structured focus group interviews. Data was collected by conducting four focus group sessions with two separate groups of students between the ages of 18 and 25 and residing on a university campus. Data analysis was conducted in accordance with the principles and guidelines of Tesch’s (as cited in Creswell, 1994) eight steps in qualitative data analysis. The results of this study indicate the following: there is lack of knowledge and understanding of binge drinking, students have positive perceptions of binge drinking and there is a perception that the university environment promotes binge drinking. In order to address binge drinking, strategies need to be implemented in the student, family, university and community context.

No description available.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores the existence of misperceptions regarding the peer‐drinking norm among undergraduate students at Stellenbosch University and the role of these misperceptions in explaining students’ drinking behaviour. A more permissive perception of the drinking norm has been associated with heavier alcohol consumption and negative consequences for oneself, others and property. Perceptions of the academic norm and its relation to personal academic and drinking behaviour are also investigated. Furthermore, the study examines the role of perceptions of the drinking norm in personal drinking behaviour in the context of other cognitive factors (perceptions), experiences prior to enrolling at university, as well as socio‐demographic and contextual factors. The theoretical framework used to understand the origin, occurrence and perpetuation of misperceptions regarding the social norm includes Bourdieu’s theory of habitus, social norms theory, social learning theory and attribution theory. Data were collected from 640 students out of a random sample of 3 177 who had been invited to participate in a web‐based survey during September 2009. In addition, 18 personal semi‐structured interviews were conducted with students.   Similar to findings of research in other countries, the results of this research show that students at Stellenbosch University tend to perceive other students’ drinking behaviour (descriptive norm) and approval of drinking behaviour (injunctive norm) as more permissive than their own. The degree of misperception increases as the social distance of reference groups increases and is also significantly related to personal alcohol consumption. There is also evidence of misperceptions regarding the academic norm and its association with personal drinking behaviour and academic behaviour. Multiple regression analysis reveals that the perceived drinking norm of close friends is the best predictor of personal drinking behaviour, followed by personal approval of drinking and drinking behaviour during the last year of high school. The data presented here for Stellenbosch University students extend the evidence that peer drinking norms are misperceived and highlights the importance of a student’s experiences before enrolling at university. Furthermore, it provides evidence that misperceiving the drinking norm is a pervasive problem that may have behavioural consequences. Various American higher education institutions have developed and implemented campaigns aimed at correcting these misperceptions. This has resulted in significant reductions in misperceptions as well as in heavy drinking among students. Students at Stellenbosch University and elsewhere might also benefit from these types of intervention strategies. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die bestaan van wanpersepsies aangaande die portuurgroep‐drinknorm onder voorgraadse studente aan Universiteit Stellenbosch en die rol daarvan in die verduideliking van studente se drinkgedrag. ’n Meer liberale persepsie van die drinknorm hou verband met swaarder alkoholgebruik en meer negatiewe gevolge vir die persoon self, ander en eiendom. Die studie ondersoek ook persepsies van die akademiese norm en die verband daarvan met persoonlike akademiese en drinkgedrag. Verder word die rol van persepsies van die drinknorm in persoonlike alkoholgebruik in die konteks van ander bewussynsfaktore (persepsies), ervarings voor inskrywing by die universiteit, asook sosiaal‐demografiese en kontekstuele faktore ondersoek. Die studie maak gebruik van die teoretiese raamwerke van Bourdieu se habitus, sosiale norm‐teorie, sosiale leer‐teorie en attributasieteorie om die oorsprong, aanwesigheid en voortsetting van wanpersepsies te verstaan. Data is versamel onder 640 studente uit ’n ewekansige steekproef van 3 177 studente wat uitgenooi was om gedurende September 2009 aan ’n webgebaseerde opname deel te neem. Daar is ook 18 in‐diepte semi‐gestruktureerde onderhoude met studente gevoer.   Soortgelyk aan bevindinge van navorsing in ander lande, toon resultate van hierdie navorsing dat studente aan Universiteit Stellenbosch geneig is om ander studente se drinkgedrag (beskrywende norm) en goedkeuring van alkoholverbruik (injunktiewe norm) as meer liberaal as hulle eie waar te neem. Die graad van wanpersepsie neem toe namate die sosiale afstand van verwysingsgroepe toeneem en hou ook betekenisvol verband met persoonlike alkoholgebruik. Daar is ook bewyse van wanpersepsies aangaande die akademiese norm en die verband daarvan met persoonlike drink‐  en akademiese gedrag. Resultate van ’n meervoudige regressie‐ontleding wys dat die waargenome drinknorm van goeie vriende die beste voorspeller van persoonlike drinkgedrag is, gevolg deur persoonlike goedkeuring van alkoholgebruik en drinkgedrag gedurende die laaste jaar van hoërskool. Die data van Stellenbosse studente lewer verder bewys dat portuurgroep‐drinknorme verkeerdelik waargeneem word en beklemtoon die belangrikheid van studente se vorige ervarings. Dit bewys ook dat die verkeerde waarneming van die drinknorm ’n konstante probleem is wat gedragsgevolge kan hê. Verskeie Amerikaanse universiteite het al veldtogte ontwikkel en geïmplementeer gemik op die regstel van dié wanpersepsies, en dit het wanpersepsies en swaar drankgebruik onder studente betekenisvol verminder. Studente aan Universiteit Stellenbosch en elders sal waarskynlik ook by soortgelyke intervensiestrategieë baat vind. / jfl2011 / Imported from http://etd.sun.ac.za

Recent studies have documented an alarming rate of alcohol use in Japan (Eisenback-Stangl et al., 2005; Milne, 2003; Shimizu, 2000). Indeed, permissive social and cultural norms for alcohol use exist within Japanese culture (Shimizu, 1990, 2000). Japanese college-students may be at further risk due to their developmental time period, where increases in alcohol use are typically seen. Furthermore, drinking habits formed during this time period may be difficult to alter later in life (Frone, 2003). Thus, social, developmental, and cultural factors exist to influence drinking among Japanese college students. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the drinking behaviors of Japanese college students and possible proximal predictors of use. Specifically, given the importance of social relationships and interactions to interdependent cultures, such as Japan, the occurrence of negative social interactions may be influential in predicting subsequent drinking, as individuals may increase drinking in order to adhere to the social norms and to make amends. Hypothesis testing confirmed a significant and positive relationship between negative social events and drinking with others. Furthermore, the expected physical, social and emotional outcomes of alcohol consumption (alcohol outcome expectancies) have been shown to predict alcohol use among U.S. samples (e.g., Goldman, 1994), however, daily fluctuations in the desirability of alcohol outcome expectancies has not been previously investigated in a Japanese sample. Given the importance of fluctuations in desirability of alcohol outcome expectancies among U.S. samples (Armeli et al., 2005), this dissertation investigated daily fluctuations in the desirability of expected outcomes and alcohol use. Support for this relationship was found; on days with individuals experienced increases in the desirability of alcohol outcome expectancies, individuals drank more with others. Support for the hypothesis that increases in daily negative social events would predict increases in the desirability of alcohol outcome expectancies was not found. Finally, this dissertation investigated two types of self-efficacy (drinking refusal self-efficacy and social self-efficacy) as stable factors of drinking. Drinking refusal self-efficacy significantly and negatively predicted drinking with others; marginal support for drinking refusal self-efficacy as a moderator of the relationship between negative social events and drinking with others was found. Social self-efficacy significantly and positively predicted drinking with others. No support was found for social self-efficacy as a moderating variable in the relationship between negative social events and drinking with others. In sum, using data that was previously collected via daily process methodology, this dissertation investigated the relationships between daily negative social interactions, daily desirability of alcohol outcome expectancies, and drinking refusal and social self-efficacy as moderators of alcohol consumption. Support was found for five of the seven hypothesized relationships.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-70). / viii, 70 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm