Background/Purpose
A central feature in most alcohol education campaigns is teaching students personal responsibility with regard to alcohol use. The purpose of this study was to investigate the alcohol protective strategies utilized by college students.
Method
Participants for this study were 693 college students who responded to a 25-item instrument on which they indicated the alcohol protective strategies that they had purposefully and planned to use in the last six months.
Analysis/Results
The strategies most commonly used by college students were that they had consumed food before drinking alcohol (83.3%) particularly for males (84.2%) and known where they going for the evening (80.7%). The most commonly used strategy for females was to have served as a sober friend. Chi-square tests were used to determine if statistical differences existed based on gender. Significant differences were found for serving as a sober friend, c2(1,N=693)=15.77, p=.000; for going out with a same gender group c2(1,N=693)=21.21, p=.000; for establishing a plan for arriving home safely, c2(1,N=693)=7.12, p=.008; for choosing not to ride in a car with an impaired driver, c2(1,N=693)=17.65, p=.000; for avoiding leaving unattended drinks at clubs, c2(1,N=693)=32.93, p=.000; and for choosing not to accept an alcoholic beverage from a stranger, c2(1,N=693)=45.58, p=.000. In each instance, fewer males than expected reported use of the respective protective strategy.
Conclusions
The results of this project indicate that more attention needs to be given to educating male college students with regard to the purposeful and planned use of protective strategies. Perhaps gender specific classes would be effective.