Legal-age students' provision of alcohol to underage college students: an exploratory study.

Full Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The authors investigated the magnitude and cultural context of legal-age university students' provision of alcohol to underage students and how such alcohol provision might be deterred. PARTICIPANTS: 130 legal-age students at a midwestern university in the United States were randomly selected. METHODS: The authors assessed 16 focus groups and a thematic analysis. RESULTS: Most participants reported frequent alcohol provision. Most denied moral responsibility for any negative consequences that recipients might suffer. Small numbers of participants, chiefly women, would decrease alcohol provision after education on the sexual risks to underage females. Larger numbers would decrease provision in response to consistent law enforcement, severe legal and disciplinary penalties, and education on severe penalties. CONCLUSIONS: Legal-age students' provision of alcohol to underage students is an integral part of college students' drinking culture. As a deterrent, an enforcement-based campaign may be more effective than an educational campaign on the possible negative consequences of alcohol for underage students.

Author information

Author/s: Brown, Richard L (RL); Matousek, Therese A (TA); Radue, Mary B (MB);

Affiliation: The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI 53719, USA. drrichbrown(-atsign-)gmail.com

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Journal of American college health : J of ACH (J Am Coll Health), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: -2009 May-Jun; vol 57 (issue 6) : pp 611-8

Dates: Created 2009/05/12; Completed 2009/06/30;

PMID: 19433399, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/30/2009, IMS Date: 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.

MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Alcohol Drinking - legislation & jurisprudence
Alcoholic Beverages
Decision Making
Female
Focus Groups

This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.

See 100+ related articles.

See a large map of 100+ related articles.