Physical Activity and Alcohol Use Across the University Transition

PRESENTATION TYPE: Individual Poster

CATEGORY/THEME: Epidemiology and etiology

 TITLE: Physical activity and alcohol use across the university transition  

 ABSTRACT BODY:

 Introduction: Researchers interested in problematic alcohol use among college students have recently noted a positive association between physical activity and alcohol use, a pattern that contrasts with the clustering of positive and negative health outcomes during other developmental periods. No known research has examined whether physical activity during the high school years predicts alcohol use across the transition to college. We examined the associations between physical activity and alcohol use (frequency of drinking; frequency of getting drunk) in a sample of students before and after the transition to their first year of college. We also examined potential moderators of this association, including gender, high school athlete status, and college residential status (i.e., residence hall vs. Greek).

 Methods: Using a prospective, longitudinal design, we administered online surveys to incoming students at a large western residential university in spring prior to freshman year (time 1; n=438) and again during the fall of their freshman year (time 2; n=242). At each time point, students reported on physical activity frequency, frequency of alcohol use, and frequency of drinking to get drunk. In addition, at time 1 students reported on their anticipated frequency of drinking and getting drunk during their freshman year of college.

 Results: Preliminary analyses revealed modest positive associations between physical activity and alcohol use at time 1, patterns that were moderated by gender. For females, no significant associations were found. For males, time 1 physical activity was positively associated with concurrent drinking frequency, r(138)=.24, getting drunk, r(138)=.26, and expected freshman college drinking frequency, r(138)=.29, and expected freshman frequency of getting drunk, r(138)=.26 (all p’s<.01). For analyses predicting time 2 drinking while controlling for time 1 drinking, time 1 physical activity was a positive predictor of time 2 drinking frequency, β (235)=.18, p<.05, and getting drunk, β (239)=.16, p<.05. Follow-up analyses revealed that these associations were significant for high school varsity athletes but not non-athletes. College residential status did not emerge as a moderator.

 Conclusions: These findings are the first to our knowledge to document that rates of physical activity during high school predict alcohol use after the college transition. These findings have implications for prevention efforts, as they emphasize that campaigns emphasizing “healthy behavior” may underestimate the complexities in the relations among different behaviors during both the high school and college years.