Friday class and heavy alcohol use in a sample of New Zealand college students.
OBJECTIVE
This study examined the association between scheduling at least one Friday class and the pattern and levels of alcohol use and heavy drinking in a sample of New Zealand college students.


METHODS
Two waves of survey data were collected from 866 college students in New Zealand in the first and second semesters of the 2000 academic year. Descriptive and regression analyses were conducted to examine the associations between scheduling Friday class in the second semester, levels of alcohol use and heavy drinking in the past month, and alcohol use on different weeknights. We hypothesized that (1) heavier-drinking students would be less likely to schedule any Friday classes, (2) having at least one Friday class would be inversely related to concurrent alcohol use and heavy drinking when adjusting for potential confounders, and (3) having Friday class would be inversely related to alcohol use and heavy drinking on Thursdays and prior week- nights.


RESULTS
Analysis results supported the hypothesis that heavier- drinking students would be less likely to schedule Friday classes but did not support the hypothesis that scheduling at least one Friday class would be inversely related to concurrent alcohol use and heavy drinking when adjusting for potential confounders. Having Friday class also was not associated with typical drinking on Thursday or Friday, but having Friday class was inversely associated with Thursday as the biggest drinking day when controlling for background variables.


CONCLUSIONS
Findings of this study indicate that heavier-drinking students are less likely to schedule Friday classes. Scheduling at least one Friday class may reduce the likelihood of heavy drinking on Thursdays but may have no effect on the overall levels of alcohol use and heavy drinking among college students.
Paschall
Mallie J
MJ
Prevention Research Center, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, 1995 University Avenue, Suite 450, Berkeley, California 94704, USA. paschall@pire.org
Kypri
Kypros
K
Saltz
Robert F
RF
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D012574:Schools; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D014495:Universities