College Athletes as Underage Drinkers

The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge of and use of alcohol by underage college athletes. Participants for this study were 272 college athletes (195 male, 77 female) from one large (14,000+ students) midwestern university. Of all subjects, 38 (14%) identified themselves as non-drinkers while 234 (86%) indicated that they wee drinkers. By age, 171 were under age 21 and 100 were 21 or older. Of the drinkers, 60% were under age 21, while for the nondrinkers, 83% were under age 21. Ninety-nine percent of the drinkers began before they reached the age of 21.

A 28-item questionnaire was used for data collection. Results from this study indicate that a subculture of college students, athletes, misuse alcohol and binge drink as often as other students. However, underage athletes are more likely to consume alcohol than are other students. Further, 60% of all athletes who drink binge, and of male athletes, 71% binge drink at least once a week, compared to about 46% of other college students.

Very few of the athletes in this study indicated that they feel pressured to drink by their teammates or are chastised if they chose not to drink. It was found that the percentage of male athletes who drink increases more with victories than with defeats. A small percentage of drinkers believed that the use of alcohol has affected their athletic and academic success.