Academic Demands are Associated with Reduced Alcohol Consumption by College Students: Evidence from a Daily Analysis

There is little empirical evidence linking academic demands or rigor to alcohol consumption by college students. In a 3-week daily study of fulltime college students at a public, residential campus in the United States, both current day and next day's academic demands were negatively related to alcohol consumption, and these relationships were mediated by daily academic effort. Academic demands on the previous day were not related to alcohol consumption, indicating that students do not engage in compensatory or celebratory drinking when demands end. The results suggest that enhancing academic expectations and rigor may be an appropriate intervention target to reduce student drinking.

The Effects of Drinking Status and Believability of Ads Featured in a Social Norms Campaign on College Students' Estimation and Accuracy of other Students' Celebratory Drinking

This study examined estimation and accuracy of normative perceptions for students during one celebratory drinking occasion. Students who drank on St. Patrick's Day overestimated the percentage of others who also drank, whereas the students who did not drink on St. Patrick's Day underestimated the percentage of others who also did not drink. The students' drinking behaviors on St. Patrick's Day did not substantially differentiate their accuracy scores. However, of the students who drank on St. Patrick's Day, those who did not believe the ads showed stronger overestimation of others who drank than did those who believed the ads.