Abstract
BackgroundHeavy alcohol use among U.S. college students is a major contributor to young adult morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to examine whether college alcohol policy enforcement levels predict changes in student drinking and related behaviors in a state system of public colleges and universities, following a system-wide change to a stricter policy.MethodsStudents and administrators at 11 Massachusetts public colleges/universities completed surveys in 1999 (N of students = 1252), one year after the policy change, and again in 2001 (N = 1074). We calculated policy enforcement scores for each school based on the reports of deans of students, campus security chiefs, and students, and examined the correlations between perceived enforcement levels and the change in student drinking rates over the subsequent two year period, after weighting the 2001 data to adjust for demographic changes in the student body.ResultsOverall rates of any past-30-days drinking, heavy episodic drinking, and usual heavy drinking among past-30-days drinkers were all lower in 2001 compared to 1999. School-level analyses (N = 11) found deans' baseline reports of stricter enforcement were strongly correlated with subsequent declines in heavy episodic drinking (Pearson's r = -0.73, p = 0.011). Moreover, consistently high enforcement levels across time, as reported by deans, were associated with greater declines in heavy episodic drinking. Such relationships were not found for students' and security chiefs' reports of enforcement. Marijuana use did not rise during this period of decline in heavy drinking.ConclusionsStudy findings suggest that stronger enforcement of a stricter alcohol policy may be associated with reductions in student heavy drinking rates over time. An aggressive enforcement stance by deans may be an important element of an effective college alcohol policy.
Highlights
Heavy alcohol use among U.S college students is a major contributor to young adult morbidity and mortality
According to the Monitoring the Future Survey and the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study (CAS), about two in five students attending 4-year colleges in the U.S report engaging in heavy episodic drinking, defined as >=5 drinks for males and >=4 drinks for females consumed on a single occasion during the prior two weeks [1,2]
We examined how alcohol policy enforcement levels related to changes in rates of student drinking and driving or riding with a driver who had been drinking, since a more restrictive campus environment may result in more students choosing off-campus venues for drinking
Summary
Heavy alcohol use among U.S college students is a major contributor to young adult morbidity and mortality. The new policy included eight components: (1) restricting alcohol to specific, supervised locations; (2) requiring advance registration of all social events involving alcohol; (3) restricting “legal” possession of alcohol to separate residence halls for students age 21 or older; (4) providing alcohol education and prevention programs; (5) establishing procedures for enforcement of all federal, state, local, and campus regulations; (6) requiring that colleges work with neighboring cities and towns to enforce alcohol laws; (7) new sanctions on student violators, up to and including expulsion from the college; and (8) parental notification of all alcohol policy violations by underage students This statewide action provided a unique opportunity to study an unfolding natural experiment involving multiple schools and thousands of students. Since the effectiveness of any policy depends on the strength of its implementation and enforcement, we focused on the level of policy enforcement across the schools, as perceived by the dean of students, campus security chief, and students at each school, and assessed the relationship between policy enforcement and heavy drinking rates
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