Use and Abuse of Alcohol in UK University Sport Dr Sarah Partington, Dr Elizabeth Partington, Professor Nick Heather, Professor Alan St. Clair Gibson, Fran Longstaff, Susan Allsop, Helen Wareham, Mark Jankowski. A report to the Alcohol Education & Research Council on research funded under grant R 07/04 Correspondence to: Dr. Sarah Partington School of Psychology and Sport Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 8ST. UK Tel: 0191 243 7554 [email protected] Table of Contents List of Figures ........................................................................................................................... iv List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. v 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... 2 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................... 3 2.1 Background ................................................................................................................. 3 2.2 Method ........................................................................................................................ 3 2.3 Findings ....................................................................................................................... 3 2.4 Conclusions ................................................................................................................. 6 3 BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................... 8 3.1 At risk groups: Students .............................................................................................. 8 3.2 Student athletes ........................................................................................................... 9 3.3 Gender ....................................................................................................................... 12 3.4 Year of Study & Accommodation ............................................................................. 13 3.5 Why do students drink? ............................................................................................. 14 3.5.1 Alcohol expectancies ......................................................................................... 14 3.5.2 Normative beliefs and misperceptions ............................................................... 14 3.6 Students‟ readiness to change their drinking behaviour............................................ 15 3.7 The Current Study ..................................................................................................... 16 4 METHOD ........................................................................................................................ 17 4.1 Sample ....................................................................................................................... 17 4.2 Power analysis ........................................................................................................... 18 4.3 Testing procedure ...................................................................................................... 18 4.4 Questionnaire booklet ............................................................................................... 19 4.5 Ethics approval .......................................................................................................... 23 4.6 Statistical analysis ..................................................................................................... 23 ii 5 RESULTS ........................................................................................................................ 24 5.1 Sample characteristics ............................................................................................... 24 5.2 AUDIT scores ........................................................................................................... 25 5.2.1 Overall sample ................................................................................................... 25 5.2.2 Differences between institutions ........................................................................ 28 5.2.3 „Never drinkers‟ ................................................................................................. 28 5.2.4 Sport participation .............................................................................................. 29 5.2.5 Gender ................................................................................................................ 36 5.2.6 Year of study ...................................................................................................... 40 5.2.7 Type of degree course ........................................................................................ 41 5.2.8 Student accommodation ..................................................................................... 42 5.2.9 Age ..................................................................................................................... 43 5.2.10 Predictors of AUDIT risk status ........................................................................ 44 5.3 Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS) .......................................................... 47 5.4 Readiness to Change Questionnaire (RCQ) .............................................................. 49 5.5 Drinking Expectancy Questionnaire ......................................................................... 52 5.6 Normative beliefs ...................................................................................................... 54 5.7 Summary of findings ................................................................................................. 57 6 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................. 61 6.1 Drinking among students in general.......................................................................... 61 6.1.1 Representativeness of the sample ...................................................................... 61 6.1.2 Differences between participating institutions ................................................... 63 6.1.3 Frequency and quantity of student drinking ...................................................... 63 6.1.4 Alcohol use disorders ......................................................................................... 66 6.1.5 Gender differences ............................................................................................. 69 6.1.6 Factors specific to student life ........................................................................... 70 iii 6.1.7 Readiness to change drinking behaviour ........................................................... 73 6.1.8 Student expectations of drinking ....................................................................... 75 6.1.9 Student beliefs and misperceptions of drinking ................................................. 77 6.2 Sport Participation and Drinking............................................................................... 79 6.2.1 Possible moderators of the relationship between sport participation and drinking: sport-related variables ...................................................................................... 81 6.2.2 Possible moderators of the relationship between sport participation and drinking: other variables .................................................................................................. 83 6.2.3 How can the relationship between sport participation and drinking behaviour be explained? ........................................................................................................................ 84 7 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 87 8 APPENDICES ................................................................................................................. 99 List of Figures Figure 5-1 : Distribution for total AUDIT scores .................................................................... 25 Figure 5-2: Percentage of students in the overall sample in the four AUDIT risk categories . 26 Figure 5-3: Comparison of sport and non-sport mean AUDIT scores when participants who have never drunk alcohol were included and excluded from the sample ................................ 30 Figure 5-4: Percentage of participants in each AUDIT category * sport participation ........... 31 Figure 5-5: Mean (SD) Total AUDIT Score * Sport Type ...................................................... 35 Figure 5-6: Percentage of Students in each AUDIT category * Sport Type ........................... 36 Figure 5-7: Total AUDIT score * Sport Type ......................................................................... 37 Figure 5-8: Percentage of students in each AUDIT category * Sex ........................................ 37 Figure 5-9: Mean total AUDIT scores for male and female students participating in university sport and those not involved in university sport ...................................................................... 40 Figure 5-10: Mean total AUDIT scores * Year group ............................................................. 41 Figure 5-11: Mean total AUDIT scores * Degree type............................................................ 42 Figure 5-12: Mean