Study Of The Determinants Of Alcohol Drinking Among Students

Introduction

A. Background of Study This study covers the determinants of alcohol drinking among OLOPSC students. From the researcher’s observation, alcohol drinking is a big part of college student’s activities nowadays. Some considered it an essential part of celebrations, sharing problems, escaping boredom, or just discussing business matters. Identifying the influential persons and causes why OLOPSC students drink alcoholic beverages will help us understand and relate to their behavior.

Statement of the Problem This study examined to identify the determinants of drinking alcoholic beverages among OLOPSC students. Specifically, the study tried to answer the following questions.

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1. Why do college students drink alcoholic beverages?
2. Who influences the students to drink alcoholic beverages?

Significance of the Study

This study was conducted to identify the influential persons and causes of alcohol consumption among OLOPSC students and may serve as reference for future researchers and students.

The study may help advisers and school administrators to understand today’s students to be able to relate with them and give accurate advices; that they may understand and help students deal with their personal conflicts associated with drinking that may pose threats to their educational goals and health. For parents, this study may help them gain valuable insights on the influences of alcoholic beverages to their teenagers. So they can establish clear standards for teenage behavior in order to provide possible preventive measures or advice of how to become a responsible drinker.

D. Scope and Limitations of the Study Only OLOPS college students were involved in the study. In reference to Senate Bill No. 2636 “Anti-Underage Drinking Act” that sets minimum legal drinking age at 18 years of age, this study was conducted only for college students ages 18 and above. This study was focused mainly on the determinants of drinking alcoholic beverages among OLOPSC students and did not cover any information or details of domestic violence, crime, sexual abuse, murder, drug abuse and suicide that were associated with alcohol consumption.

Review of Related Literature and Studies

According to Valbuena (1994), in a survey conducted by the University of the Philippines, sixty percent (60%) or 5. 3 million Filipino youths are said to be drinking alcoholic beverages. Regardless of gender that more Filipino youths, or some may be considered as students, are already drinking alcoholic beverages. Valbuena implied in her study that families and friends could be contributory factors why teenagers drink alcohol to wit: “Teenagers said their family and friends have influenced them to experiment with drinking alcohol.

Underscoring the critical role that the family plays in youth behaviors, young people seem to take their cue from their own parents' attitudes and behavior. Thus, a boy who grows up with an alcoholic father is more likely to become one himself”. 1 According to Newbury-birch (2009), relationships in family also play a role. Whilst good family relations work as protective factor, poor relations often lead to increased probability of early initiation with drinking and higher levels of alcohol abuse. Appropriate level of monitoring and support of the adolescent are also connected with reduced consumption.

According to Templin

According to Templin ; Martin (1999) Not only are there differences in the drinking habits of students when race is a factor, but there are also differences among students who are religious compared to those who are not. In a study looking at the relationship between commitment to religion and drinking behavior among Catholic college students, Templin and Martin (1999) reported an inverse correlation between the two, especially in the case of women. While the investigation suggested that students who exhibit eligiosity drank less when compared to students who are not religious, it is difficult to generalize those results to other religions without proper research. Templin and Martin recognized the limitations of their study and claimed that further research would improve understanding of the differences in drinking behavior between religious and non-religious college students. National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, (2002) Countless studies sought to understand alcohol use among college students because of the great concern it presents for college campuses.

In fact, United States college presidents have identified alcohol use as the number one threat to campus life. In an effort to understand drinking on college campuses, researchers have identified and examined a variety of variables that give insight into student alcohol consumption. Such variables include the amount of alcohol students consume in a single sitting and the frequency at which they drink over an extended period of time. Many researchers have also inspected influences of drinking behaviors such as race, religion, gender, and age.

The many studies that have looked at variables related to alcohol consumption in college students give researchers and administrators insight into the overwhelming problem of college student alcohol consumption. According to Presley (1994) College students drinking behavior has been studied extensively. Much of this research illustrates the exact nature and scope of the problems related to student alcohol consumption. Even though college students generally perceive that their peers drink often and heavily, the reality is that college students drinking behaviors p a fairly wide spectrum.

For example, men and women drink differently, with men drinking an average of 7. 5 drinks per week and women drinking an average 3. 2 drinks per week. According to Weitzman (2003) the transition from high school to college is a significant milestone in a young person’s life that is marked by entirely new social environments and the adoption of adult roles as students become independent of their parents. Although about half of all college binge drinkers engage in binge drinking before their arrival on campus, an equal number pick up binge drinking behavior in college.

Johnston (1997) The Monitoring the Future Study, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, is a longitudinal study of alcohol and drug use among high school seniors, with follow-up interviews conducted to determine changes in alcohol and drug use patterns after high school. Among students, 51% of high school seniors and 68% of college students had used alcohol at least once in the 30 days preceding the survey and 74% of seniors and 83% of college students had used alcohol in the previous year.

According to Carpenter

Defined as five or more drinks in a row, the study also found that 30% of high school seniors and 39% of college students had binged in the two weeks before taking the survey. According to Schulenberg (2001) some first-year students who live on campus may be at a particular risk for alcohol misuse. During their high school years, those who go on to college tend to drink less than their noncollege-bound peers.

But during the first few years following high school, the heavy drinking rates of college students surpass those of their noncollege peers, and this rapid increase in heavy drinking over a relatively short period of time can contribute to difficulties with alcohol and with the college transition in general. Kokkevi (2007) concluded that fifteen year old students with lower levels of parental control were more likely to consume alcohol ten or more times within 30days. Adolescents with parents who strongly disapprove drinking are less likely to have regularly drinking friends and tend to be less influenced by peers to consume alcohol.

According to Carpenter ; Dobkin (2009), found evidence that turning the age of twenty-one is associated with immediate increase in alcohol consumption. The study estimates that young adults raise number of drinking days by 21% after turning twenty-one. By contrast, minimum drinking-age law does not seem to play an important role in Europe. First of all, minimum drinking age is usually eighteen or even sixteen years and more importantly, the laws are apparently not enforced that strictly, because the rates of alcohol consumption at the age of fifteen are rather high. There might be a light difference amongst countries, but in general underage drinking is a very common practice. According to Wechsler (2001), just as religiosity and race help to predict the alcohol consumption behaviors of college students, gender does, as well. A significantly higher rate of men than women claimed not only to have consumed alcohol in the past month, but also to have engaged in binge drinking. According to Wechsler (2002), when looking at traditional college students who are the majority of the students involved in higher education, age is correlated with grade-level.

For them, there is a relationship between age and drinking habits. Most specifically, research focuses on the differences in the alcohol use patterns of students who are over 21 years of age, the legal age for consuming alcohol, and those who are underage. Of the over 45,000 participants in the Core Institute Survey, (Presley et al, 1996) 32,000 of whom were underage, 82. 2 % of those students younger than 21-years old reported using alcohol in the year prior to completing the survey. About sixty-nine percent of those students claimed that they had consumed alcohol within the month prior to the study.

Significantly less claimed having consumed alcohol in the two weeks prior to participating in the study. Those statistics indicate that students who are under the legal age for alcohol consumption drank less frequently than their over-aged peers. Yet, the results also show that students who are underage are more likely to drink to excess, “binge drink,” when they do consume alcohol. In fact, underage college students partake in heavy drinking so much more than their over-aged peers that they consume approximately half of all the alcohol that college students are report consuming.

Shinew and Parry (2005) found that 83. 6% of their sample, of college students, reported they drink alcohol. The average number of days the students reported drinking in one week was 2. 5 and the average number of drinks the students reported drinking during one occasion was.

Theoretical Framework

A. Theoretical Framework A theoretical framework map from the researchers’ observation was created to show the determinants of drinking alcoholic beverages among college students. Theoretical Framework of Determinants Of Drinking Alcoholic Beverages among OLOPSC Students  Peer Pressure Escape from Day-to-Day Life To Feel More Relaxed OLOPSC Students Within the structure of the theoretical framework of Figure 1, the presence of friends, relatives and parents have great drinking influence over the course of student’s development. These influences could be causes for college students to drink and these causes are peer pressure where students are forced to drink because everyone they know are doing it, a chance to escape from day-to-day life and search for relaxation. B. Hypothesis of the Study.

Friends, relatives and parents influenced the student to drink alcoholic beverages. Students drink alcoholic beverages because of peer pressure. Students drink alcoholic beverages to escape from their day-to-day life.  Students drink to feel more relaxed. C. Definition of Terms 1. Convenience Sampling. Student is selected or is drawn on the basis of opportunity from 120 respondents that are easily accessible inside the campus. Population. All potential respondents or students of interest who share their experience on alcohol drinking which would make them eligible for entry into a study. . Descriptive research. This method were used in the study which involves observing and describing the behavior of the students, where the result obtained in the study does not generalized the total population but to obtain only in-depth information. Hypothesis. A scientific guess why college students drink alcohol.

Research Methodology

A. Sources of Data This study used a survey or a set of questionnaire as source of data were the respondents were college students of OLOPSC Marikina City for the school year 2012-2013 (first semester).

The questionnaire consisted of columns that represented reasons why students drink alcohol. The row section represents the influential persons namely friends, parents and relatives. B. Research Design This study used Descriptive Research Design using survey form to collect data from the student. The survey form gathered facts that required interpretation and involved description and analysis of student’s current condition. C. Sampling Procedure This study used convenience sampling approach which is under non-random sample (non-probability) methodology.

In this approach there is no formula to determine the size of a non-random sample; it does not guarantee that all eligible college students of the total population have an equal chance of being included in the sample, because the goal of this approach was to obtain more in-depth information rather than to make generalizations of the total population. Sampling procedure: 1) Conducted survey to college students whoever happened to be available or easily accessible. 2) Guided and assisted the respondents on filling-up the survey form. 3) Gathered and secured survey form if completed.

Respondents of the Study

For this study, the respondents were college students of OLOPSC Marikina City, regardless of their physical appearance, gender, subjects enrolled in and cultural differences. However, respondents are Filipino citizens, above 18 years of age and are currently studying for the school year 2012-2013. Using the survey method, 120 students on campus were asked to answer a survey questionnaire customized by the researcher. E. Data Gathering Instruments This study used survey form as instrument to gather data. The survey form consists of two sections: the cause section and the influence section.

The cause section has three columns that present the reasons why students drink alcoholic beverages, these three columns are: 1. Peer pressure “I drink alcohol beverages because of peer pressure; I feel forced to take alcohol beverages because they are all doing it”. 2. Escape from day-to-day life “I drink alcohol beverages to escape from my day-to-day life” 3. Feel relaxed “I feel more relaxed or happy if I drink” The influence section has three rows that represent individual who influenced the students to drink alcohol, these three rows.

Relatives

If a student is to answer the survey form, he must choose first who influenced him/her to drink alcohol. Next is for the student to choose what really caused him/her to drink alcohol. After choosing the cause and influential person, corner selections such as, agree, strongly agree, disagree, strongly disagree, and not applicable are to be selected or encircled according to their experience. For qualitative analysis, percentage formula was used to determine the percentage of choices from the survey. The formula for percentage: P, percentage f, frequency or number of occurrences N, total number of population

F. Data Collection Procedure Below is the procedure used for data collection:

1. Check completeness of survey form.
2. Count the frequency of choices.
3. Qualitative data are analyzed and interpreted

Results and Discussions

About one hundred twenty (120) college students were surveyed; six (6) out of one hundred twenty (120) or five percent (5%) surveyed have not yet experienced drinking alcohol. To maintain the integrity of collected data, the six non-drinker students were separated from the study of alcohol drinkers and one hundred fourteen (114) students (respondents) were studied and analyzed.

Chart #1, Causes of Drinking Alcoholic Beverages Per survey results (Chart #1), the topmost reason why students drink alcohol is pressure from peers. Fifty (50) students or forty four percent (44%) surveyed respondents experienced the desire to fit in and adopt the values and practices of their fellow friends and students. Although many students do drink alcohol, students habitually overestimate the rates at which their friends or fellow students drink and this sense leads the students to feel that they have to drink to fit in. The second reason why students drink alcohol is to de-stress or they want to keep themselves feel relaxed.

Forty nine (49) students or forty three percent (43%) surveyed respondents experienced drinking alcohol has made them to feel relaxed which is a common occurrence. Students recognized that alcohol helps them unwind or de-stress and they drank to relax and are not drinking for social purposes. They understood that alcohol can mask feelings of stress, pressure and anxiety while improving their mood. The least reason why students drink alcohol is escaping their day-to-day lives or just to forget their troubles. Fifteen (15) students or thirteen percent (13%) surveyed respondents experienced that alcohol makes their brain and memories go fuzzy.

They believe that alcohol temporary fixes their troubles in life. For Influential person’s results (Chart #2), the topmost reason selected by students were their parents. Fifty five percent (55%) replied to "agree" and "strongly agree" choices that students were influenced to drink alcohol because of their parents influence. Chart #2, Influential Persons According to the respondents, as they grew-up in a household where one or both parents drink alcohol, it might seem normal or an acceptable behavior for them to drink. They also have more access to alcohol if their parents are drinking.

The second selected by students are their relatives. Fifty four percent (54%) replied to "agree" and "strongly agree" choices that student are influenced to drink alcohol because of their relatives’ influence. According to the respondents, relatives actually introduce them to alcohol. Alcohol was most commonly introduced to them at home or at family celebrations. Relatives would introduce alcohol by offering a sip or providing small samples of alcohol mixed with water or juice under controlled or supervised conditions. The intention was to encourage them to drink responsibly in the future.

The least the students selected were their friends, fifty two and a half percent (52. 5%) replied to "agree" and "strongly agree" choices that student are influenced to drink alcohol because of their friends’ influence. According to the students, their friends heavily influenced their drinking habits. Students are more likely to go along with what their friends are doing or going out most likely involves friends who all enjoy drinking. Because when they are together with their friends, they always want to do the same things, which include drinking routine. ‘Birds of the same feathers, flock together’ so they say.

In this study, the results obtained may not generalize or dictate that the same results are true to the total population of OLOPSC students. Charts data presented in this section were all extracted from survey’s Tally Sheet, Appendix A.

Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations

Due to the complex variability in drinking among college students, the goal of this study was to examine the psychosocial variables that predict drinking among college student drinkers. This study started with influences from friends, parents and relatives, and followed by causes or reasons why students drink alcohol.

The data were reviewed regarding the causes and influences relationship with drinking in college students: drinking causes, and peer, friends and family influences. Demographic variables were not considered in the study to simplify the results and conclusion. Thus, this study assumed that students regardless of their religion and status have the same approach when it comes to drinking alcohol. Overall, this study indicated that causes and influential persons make the student drink alcohol. The first set is drinking causes, was that of the sensation seeking personality type or students who drank to keep them relaxed.

The second cause was that of the escape personality type, consisting of students who drank to escape from day-to-day life. The third cause was that of the coping personality type, consisting mainly of students who drank due to peer pressure. During the review of the results, the following hypotheses below are accepted: 1. Friends, relatives and parents were all influential factors to a student to drink alcohol. 2. Students drink alcohol because of peer pressure and to keep them more relaxed. 3. Few students drink alcohol because they want to escape from day-to-day life.

The way that the influences impacts student’s drinking in college is likely influenced equally by friends, parents and relatives. It seems that these influences may serve as an explanation for the pathways to student’s drinking. Thus, it seems that control (for alcohol drinker) and prevention (for non-drinker) programs would need to reach college students. Parents may also address this control and prevention by encouraging their son/daughter to find friends that have positive attitudes and a shared contempt for drinking that will keep them away from alcohol.

Otherwise, if drinking alcoholic beverages is hard to control on their son/daughter, providing them valuable insights on drinking can establish their clear standards of becoming a responsible drinker.

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