Scheduled for Health Posters, Friday, April 12, 2002, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM, San Diego Convention Center: Exhibit Hall


Feelings of Regret: Exploring the Links Between Perceived Risk and Consequences of Alcohol Use Among College Students

Michael J. Cleveland and Charles M. Cychosz, Iowa State University, Ames, IA

Education has often been used as a vehicle to increase the perceived risk of alcohol use. Because “regret” can be the psychological process underlying the link between experience and changes in perceived risk, this study examined which specific consequences of alcohol use were most closely linked to feelings of regret. Data were drawn from two small, private colleges, using the CORE Survey in all cases. This instrument addresses demographics, patterns of alcohol use, attitudes, motives for use, and alcohol-related consequences. Data were collected from a total of 1199 participants. Of these, 739 reported 1 or more drinks per week and were included in further analysis. Nineteen items addressed the consequences of drinking, ranging from having a hangover to being arrested for DWI/DUI. A principal components factor analysis using varimax rotation resulted in the following four factors extracted, which explained 54.45% of the variance: (1) “Acting Out” (10 items); (2) “Psychological Problem” (4 items); (3) “Sexual Advantage” (2 items); and (4) “Police Involvement” (2 items). Further analysis was conducted to explore differences among five weekly drinking levels for each of the ten individual items included in the “Acting Out” factor. A multivariate analysis revealed significant overall effects for drinking group (F=9.44, p=0.000), as did univariate analyses for each of the individual items in the factor (all ps=0.000). Separate post-hoc analyses of marginal means for each of the ten items indicated the only item that followed the pattern of “later regretted action” was “driven under influence.” For each of these two items, significant increases in means were seen between the “1-5” and “6-10” groups as well as between the “11-15” and “16-20” groups. No mean differences were found between the “6-10” and “11-15” groups or the “16-20” and “>20” groups. Thus, for these two consequences the drinking frequencies could be collapsed into three groups: 1-5 drinks per week, 6-15 drinks per week, and more than 16 drinks per week. These findings are particularly interesting because “regret” tracked most closely with driven under influence, a socially sanctioned phenomenon. Level of regret deviated from patterns of use for other, seemingly more salient consequences like hangover and missing class. Such findings suggest that social norms may be more important than some types of personal experience in developing regret over alcohol use. Furthermore, norms and sanctions may be more important than some have thought in programs designed to increase perceived risk of alcohol use.
Keyword(s): college level issues, wellness/disease prevention, youth-at-risk

Back to the 2002 AAHPERD National Convention and Exposition