A Study of the Alcohol Motivations, Knowledge and Behavior of College Age Youth (Drinking, Meanings, Patterns, Use, Personal)
Carmody, Colleen
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/68989
Description
Title
A Study of the Alcohol Motivations, Knowledge and Behavior of College Age Youth (Drinking, Meanings, Patterns, Use, Personal)
Author(s)
Carmody, Colleen
Issue Date
1985
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Psychology, General
Abstract
Alcohol use is a fact of life on the college campus. Surveyors of college age drinking patterns document that from 71-96% of students use alcohol. This research is on motivation for alcohol use among college students. A definite gap in the literature exists on motivation for alcohol use and drinking patterns among college students. The problem is significant because previous research has established that alcohol is the drug of choice by college students. Alcohol is the most abused drug in the United States. Past surveys have provided conclusive data that the college age population has the greatest problem with alcohol abuse.
The main purpose of this study is to investigate alcohol motivations, knowledge and behavior of college age youth. The research instrument is a 50 item questionnaire designed to elicit data on motivations for alcohol use, alcohol knowledge and alcohol behavior. The motivation section of the questionnaire is a modification of the Burns and Carman scale. Motivations for alcohol use were categorized as: positive social, conforming social, psychophysiological and personality effects. The knowledge and behavior sections were adapted from surveys used by two leading experts in the field, Dr. Geraldo Gonzales of the University of Florida and Dr. Ruth Engs of Indiana University. A single question elicits open ended responses about motivation for the most recent drinking occasion. A sample of non-alcoholic youth (n = 531) is compared with a sample of alcoholic college age youth (n = 31).
The data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The following statistical methods were used: t-tests, correlation coefficients, analyses of variance, Chi squares, Kendall's Tau, multivariate analysis of variance, a discriminant analysis, a factor analysis and a content analysis.
A major finding is that college students were primarily motivated by social reasons rather than personal reasons. Alcoholic college age youth were motivated by social reasons. Both groups were in agreement on the positive social subscale but were significantly different on the other three subscales. There were significant sex and school classification differences on alcohol motivation, knowledge and behavior.
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