The problem of the study was to investigate the relationship between college students' spirituality levels and their alcohol use. Spirituality has been shown to have many health benefits on an individual's life. Alcohol has been a serious problem facing college students for many years. The researcher used a 56-item questionnaire modified from three other instruments including the Life Attitude Profile-Revised Personal Meaning Index (Reker, 1999) to measure spirituality, and a combination of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (Center for Disease Control, 2003) and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (Center for Disease Control, 2005)to measure alcohol use. A convenience sample of 438 undergraduate students enrolled in a Health Science course at Ball State University, voluntarily completed the questionnaire in Spring semester 2005. Data were analyzed using univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses. Bivariate correlations indicated a statistically significant relationship between lower levels of alcohol use and higher levels of spirituality. Additionally, a statistically significant difference was found in the level of spirituality between males and females, and between Christians and Non-Christians and also in the drinking levels between students younger than 21 years of age and students 21 years of age and older. There was no significant difference in the alcohol use between males and females, between Christians and Non-Christians, and in the spirituality levels between students of different class standing (e.g. freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors). College students who have a more spiritual way of being may eliminate or reduce certain risk behaviors from their lives such as alcohol use. Results confirmed that the more spiritual a college student is the lower their alcohol use is which indicated a need for more spirituality education in the health science and health education field because of the relationship the dimension was shown to play on alcohol use. The results may be useful to college administrators when developing alcohol prevention policies.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2005). Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2003). Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Questionnaire. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Reker, G. T. (1999). Life attitude profile-revised manual. Peterborough, Ontario, Canada: Student Psychologists Press.