Relationships among alcohol consumption, drug use, and goal orientation among college students in the southeastern USA.
Students attending 2 different universities completed a Goals Inventory as well as a self-report survey designed to address their use of alcohol and other drugs. University 1 was a large, public state-supported school that did not restrict alcohol use. From this university were 30 male and 77 female students who ranged in age from 18-25 years (M = 20 yr.). University 2 was a small, private church-affiliated school that enforced a no-alcohol-on-campus policy. This sample included 41 male and 50 female students, whose ages ranged from 18-24 years (M = 19 yr.). More than half of the sample at each school had consumed alcohol at some time. While men drank more than women at University 1, the sex-ratio at University 2 was not different. Students at University 2 had higher learning and performance goal scores, alcohol-use scores, and drug-abuse scores than those at University 1. Students at University 2 had higher alcohol-abuse scores. Learning goal orientation was inversely related to alcohol-abuse behaviors but only at University 1. General alcohol use was inversely related to learning goal orientation at University 2. Students at both universities reported drinking to relieve tension. Those with a learning goal orientation were reportedly not drinking excessive amounts of alcohol. However, the relationship between alcohol use and abuse and performance is unclear because students had high performance scores at both universities along with high alcohol-use scores.
Ginn
Sheryl R
SR
Department of Psychology, Wingate University, Wingate, NC 28174, USA. sginn@wingate.edu
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001290:Attitude; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012737:Sex Factors; D015144:Southeastern United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities