Background/Purpose
The problems associated with college-age drinking are rampant and well known. In response, colleges and universities have become more proactive by initiating alcohol prevention and education programs. A central feature in most alcohol education campaigns is teaching standard drink sizes. In today's era of portion distortion, how effective are these education programs? The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge of U.S. standard serving sizes of alcohol among college students.
Method
Participants for this study were 3,000 college students enrolled in an undergraduate personal health class. The sample was fairly equally divided by gender and represented all classifications of students. Participants responded to a five-item instrument which asked them to identify the U.S. standard serving sizes of various alcoholic beverages. Responses were coded as either being correct or incorrect. An item was deemed incorrect regardless of whether the response under- or over-estimated the correct serving size. Data collection took place during two consecutive semesters.
Analysis/Results
Chi-square tests were used to determine if significant differences in responses existed for gender and classification in school. With regard to gender, significant differences were found for beer, ÷2(1, N = 2781) = 31.03, p = .000. A significant number of males knew the correct severing size of beer. Similar findings were indicated for 100 proof distilled spirits, ÷2(1, N = 270) = 6.33, p = .012 and for a wine cooler, ÷2(1, N = 2781) = 9.52, p = .002. Again, males were found to be significantly more knowledgeable about the serving sizes of 100 proof distilled spirits and a wine cooler. For classification in school, significant differences were found for beer, ÷2(3, N = 2908) = 40.28, p = .000, for 100 proof distilled spirits, ÷2(3, N = 2907) = 29.44, p = .000, and for wine, ÷2(3, N = 2908) = 12.53, p = .006. Freshmen and sophomores knew significantly less about the serving size of beer and freshmen know significantly less about the serving size 100 proof distilled spirits and wine.
Conclusions
The results of this project indicate that more attention needs to be given to educating female college students with regard to serving sizes. Perhaps gender specific classes would be effective. Consideration also should be given during the early years of the college experience to training all students about serving sizes. The consequences of the lack of knowledge are binge drinking, alcohol poisoning, drunk driving, and other risk taking behaviors.