Misperceptions of the norms for the frequency of alcohol and other drug use on college campuses.

Data from surveys of students representing 100 diverse college campuses were used to investigate the difference between the self-reported frequency of a drug's use and students' perceptions of the frequency of use. Students were asked about the frequency of their own use of 11 drugs (alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, sedatives, hallucinogens, opiates, inhalants, designer drugs, and steroids) and how often they thought "the average student" on their campus used these drugs. Respondents typically misperceived their peer norms (designated as the median of self-reported use) by substantially overestimating how often the average student used each drug, both in campus samples where abstinence or infrequent use were the median of self-reports and in samples where the median of self-reports revealed more frequent use. To the extent that they may promote or reinforce students' actual use, these misperceptions should be considered in designing college drug prevention programs.     

College student's perceptions of sources of information about AIDS

Public communication campaigns and social marketing literature identify principles for developing effective AIDS education and prevention efforts. Planners need to know the audience, identify salient audience segments, and understand the characteristics of information sources that the particular audience finds believable and is likely to use. In this study, the authors investigated college students' perceptions of (1) the credibility and likelihood of using a variety of interpersonal, media, and institutional sources of information about AIDS; (2) the sources that have provided them with the most information about AIDS; and (3) the relationships among those perceptions. They also investigated potential gender differences in perceptions of sources of AIDS information. Respondents to a larger probability sample survey rated 35 sources of information about AIDS. Although mass media sources clearly provided the greatest amount of information, they were conspicuously less prominent in their acceptability to respondents. Leaflets were the only kinds of media sources that the respondents rated high on both believability and likelihood of use. In contrast, three interpersonal sources and four institutional sources appeared as best choices on the combined criteria. Results are discussed in terms of implications for planning and implementing AIDS education and prevention programs for the college-student audience.     

Colleges respond to student binge drinking: reducing student demand or limiting access

Administrators at 68% of 4-year colleges nationwide (N = 747) responded to a survey concerning the types of programs and policies they used in response to students' heavy drinking. Most schools conducted targeted alcohol education and invested in institutional prevention efforts; half conducted social norms campaigns; a sizeable minority restricted alcohol on campus. Schools that focused on demand reduction were less likely to ban alcohol use. One in 3 schools received funding for these programs from governmental agencies, and 1 in 5 from the alcohol industry. Such schools were more likely to conduct targeted alcohol education and social norms programs and were less likely to restrict alcohol use on campus or at college events. Colleges may want to reconsider prevention initiatives that focus exclusively on demand or supply. They may also want to examine the extent to which funding is the driving force shaping the direction of their alcohol initiatives.     

A collaborative approach to nutrition education for college students

It is well established in the literature that college students have poor eating habits and that many barriers exist to achieving optimal nutrition for this busy population. Little is known about students' perceptions of this problem or suggestions for improving their dietary habits. Similarly, college health professionals need innovative approaches to nutritional education. In an effort to develop an online nutrition resource specifically geared to college students, the authors assessed the availability of Internet-based nutritional information for this population and conducted focus groups with students and health professionals to identify relevant nutrition concerns. They used concept-mapping techniques to conduct a systematic analysis of the qualitative information generated from their focus group participants. Their findings emphasize the need for targeted resources for college students and the importance of using students' suggestions in developing nutrition programs.     

"The responsibility to inform, the power to act": a conference for New England college newspaper editors on the role of the campus press in addressing substance use issues.

College newspapers are a powerful but underutilized medium for educating students on health issues, including those related to drug and alcohol use on campus. Editors of these publications are in a position to wield significant influence among their readers. In addition to communicating factual information about the prevalence and impact of substance use among college students, editors can use the press to advocate changes in students' attitudes and behaviors and in college or community policies that affect substance use. A pilot conference was held to help New England college newspaper editors perceive the importance of their role in educating their peers about substance use and other health-related issues, and to offer concrete suggestions as to how they can incorporate these topics into an "activist" campus press.     

Toward a transformed approach to prevention: breaking the link between masculinity and violence

Men are disproportionately overrepresented among both perpetrators and victims of violent crime. Scholars from the men's studies movement have documented a clear link between socialization into stereotypical norms of hegemonic masculinity and an increased risk for experiencing violence. Despite this evidence, most campus prevention programs fail to recognize the link between men and violence and use only traditional approaches to violence prevention. The most that on-campus prevention programs provide are self-defense seminars for potential female victims of rape and general campus safety measures. In this article, the author describes a comprehensive, transformed approach to violence prevention. Data from a year-long case study of Men Against Violence, a peer education organization at a large university in the South, demonstrate the feasibility of meaningfully expanding male students' conceptions of manhood and appropriate gender roles and, thus, reducing the likelihood of men's engaging in sexually or physically violent behavior.     

Alcohol policies on college campuses

State and local alcohol policies can minimize opportunities for people to use alcohol, thereby reducing consumption and alcohol-related problems. Little is known, however, about the prevalence of campus policies aimed at reducing college students' alcohol use and related problems. The authors surveyed school administrators in Minnesota and Wisconsin to assess the frequency of alcohol policies and whether institutional characteristics were likely to predict campus policies. They also compared administrators' responses to policies posted on college Web sites. Most schools prohibited beer kegs and provided alcohol-free housing for students. A minority of schools prohibited all alcohol use on campus or at Greek organizations or banned advertisements in school newspapers for alcohol or off-campus bars. The prevalence of policies varied with school characteristics, and agreement was poor between Web-site policy information and that provided by administrators. Further research on the prevalence of college alcohol policies might be useful for assessing trends and future prevention needs on campuses.     

College students' knowledge and health beliefs about AIDS: implications for education and prevention

A questionnaire designed to measure the application of the dimensions of the Health Belief Model (HBM) to AIDS prevention and to practicing safer sex was administered to 139 undergraduates aged 22 years and under. Students generally had good knowledge about the facts of AIDS, which was consistent with other studies. We found an important difference between students' beliefs about practicing safer sex to prevent AIDS depending on whether their level of knowledge was high or low. The HBM posits that all of its dimensions must be present in order for belief to be followed by action. However, students with low knowledge indicated that the perceived barriers to practicing safer sex were higher than did students with high knowledge about AIDS. These results suggest that special efforts need to be made to teach students with low knowledge more about AIDS and that the barriers to safer sex can and should be overcome. There were no differences between students known to be sexually active compared with those who may or may not have been sexually active. One explanation was a possibly high number of students in the group identified as "perhaps sexually active" who actually were sexually active. Similarly, there were no differences between college students who did or did not know someone with AIDS, but this may have been due to the small number of students who did know such a person. Students' preferences for the format and methodology of AIDS education also were presented. In general, the students preferred small-group discussions and formats such as movies or panel discussions where they could remain "anonymous."(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Prevention efforts underlying decreases in binge drinking at institutions of higher education

Analyses of 94 Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE)-sponsored drug-prevention programs and their outcomes used the Core Survey to identify 34 institutions where college students' binge drinking increased (M = 5.44%) and 60 institutions where it decreased (M = -4.59%) during 2 years of program operation. The authors used an inductively derived taxonomy of prevention program elements, student variables, student substance use, use-related variables, and institutional variables to compare the 2 groups of institutions. Only prevention program elements discriminated between groups. Factor analysis of discriminating elements identified 8 prevention factors that improved base-rate prediction of institutional decrease in binge drinking by 28.1%. Factor synthesis yielded a 3-construct binge-drinking prevention model based on student participation and involvement strategies, educational and informational processes, and campus regulatory and physical change efforts. This model improved base-rate prediction of decreased binge drinking by 33.2%.     

Condom use among Latino college students

Recent reports indicate that Latinos, the largest racial/ethnic minority group in the United States, are disproportionately affected by HIV and AIDS. College health professionals, therefore, should understand current sexual behaviors and risk factors among Latino youth. The authors assessed students' condom use at their most recent sexual encounter by using data from those students who reported oral, vaginal, or anal sex during the last 30 days. Fewer than half of recently sexually active Latino students had used condoms during their last oral (4.9%), vaginal (41.3%), or anal (27.8%) sexual encounter. Predictors of condom use varied according to the type of sexual activity. Findings from this exploratory study offer current information about condom use and sexual behaviors among Latino college students and suggest that prevention interventions and messages should be tailored to students' gender and types of sexual activity.     

Project VOGUE: A Partnership for Increasing HIV Knowledge and HIV Vaccine Trial Awareness Among House Ball Leaders in Western New York

Men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender individuals of color, the largest demographic in the House Ball Community (HBC), are amongst the group at highest risk for HIV infection in the United States. The HBC have limited access to culturally appropriate HIV education. This study aimed to develop a partnership with HBC leaders to uncover strategies for increasing HIV prevention knowledge, including participation in HIV vaccine trials. To this end a research institution-community-HBC partnership was established. In-depth qualitative and quantitative data were collected from the 14 HBC leaders in Western New York, revealing that knowledge of HIV and related vaccine trials was limited. Barriers to increasing HIV knowledge included fear of peer judgment, having inaccurate information about HIV, and lack of education. Among the HBC, community partnerships will further aid in the development of future HIV prevention programs and increase individuals’ willingness to participate in future HIV vaccine trials.     

Using a social marketing approach to advertise Sexual Assault Nurse Examination (SANE) services to college students

The authors report on an advertising campaign to communicate the availability and desirability of using Sexual Assault Nurse Examination (SANE) services. They used social marketing precepts to develop posters to educate college students about using SANE as a health service and as an arm of prosecution. After 2 advertising campaigns, they conducted an anonymous survey of 1,051 college students. The findings indicated that posters placed in residence halls and public bathrooms reached students, produced a statistically significant increase in students' understanding of SANE services, and were significantly associated with their hypothetical encouragement of others to use SANE. Gender mediated some results. Posters placed in private viewing spaces were found to be a viable way to communicate information about SANE. Funding to combat violence against women on campus should be aimed at increasing students' access to SANE and should include the costs of advertising the program.     

Correction of normative misperceptions: an alcohol abuse prevention program.

Normative misperception refers to the tendency of college students to misperceive campus drinking norms to be more liberal than they actually are. Initial investigations have demonstrated the effectiveness of normative education on reduction of alcohol use in primary and secondary education settings. This study examined the utility of a group program designed to challenge seventy-one male college students' misperceptions of college drinking norms. Participants were enrolled into either a normative education group or a control group representing traditional alcohol education efforts. Participants in the normative education groups demonstrated more accurate perceptions of campus drinking norms and a significant reduction in consequences of alcohol use while those in the control group did not. Changes in normative perceptions were among the strongest contributors to a function discriminating between those who decreased their drinking and those who did not. Results suggest that normative education may be an effective approach to modifying drinking behaviors.     

College smoking policies and smoking cessation programs: results of a survey of college health center directors

College students' cigarette smoking rose dramatically during the 1990s. Little is known about what colleges do to address the problem. Health center directors at 393 4-year US colleges provided information (response rate: 65.1%) about college policies addressing smoking and the availability of smoking cessations programs. Of the health center directors surveyed, 85% considered students' smoking a problem; yet only 81% of colleges prohibit smoking in all public areas and only 27% ban smoking in all indoor areas, including students' rooms in dormitories and in private offices. More than 40% of the respondents reported that their schools did not offer smoking cessation programs and that the demand for existing program was low. Colleges need to do more to discourage student tobacco use. Recommended actions include campus-wide no-smoking policies that apply to student residences and identification of new ways of providing smoking prevention and cessation services.     

The reliability of environmental measures of the college alcohol environment

Much of what we know about students' drinking patterns and problems related to alcohol use is based on survey research. Although local and national survey data are important to alcohol-prevention projects, they do not sufficiently capture the complexity of the alcohol environment. Environmental prevention approaches to alcohol-related problems have been shown to be effective in community settings and researchers have begun to study and adapt such approaches for use on college campuses. Many environmental approaches require systematic scanning of the campus alcohol environment. This study assessed the inter-rater reliability of two environmental scanning tools (a newspaper content analysis form and a bulletin analysis form) designed to identify alcohol-related advertisements targeting college students. Inter-rater reliability for these forms varied across different rating categories and ranged from poor to excellent. Suggestions for future research are addressed.     

Self-reported drinking-game participation of incoming college students

Drinking games are associated with excess alcohol use and alcohol-related problems, yet it is unclear whether they are unique to the college environment or whether students come to college familiar with such games. The authors queried 1,252 students attending voluntary summer orientation programs about their experiences with drinking games. A majority (63%) indicated they had played drinking games and viewed them as a means to get drunk quickly and to socialize, control others, or get someone else drunk. Logistic regression analyses revealed that familiarity with drinking situations was associated with a greater likelihood of playing drinking games. Students who reported drinking more frequently and consuming greater quantities of alcohol than others, having lifetime marijuana use, and initiating alcohol consumption between the ages of 14 and 16 years were significantly more likely to have participated in drinking games. These findings demonstrate the importance of considering students' participation in drinking games when campus officials address alcohol use.     

Laxative abuse: a hazardous habit for weight control

Laxative abuse is an increasingly popular weight-loss method on college campuses, particularly for individuals with eating disorders. It is a dangerous habit, which many mistakenly believe will prevent caloric absorption and weight gain. Serious medical problems that may occur with laxative abuse include electrolyte and fluid imbalance, structural and functional colonic changes, and allergic reactions. Because patients are often secretive about abusing laxatives, laxative abuse should be considered if there is suspicion about the use of potentially destructive weight-control methods or about an eating disorder. A complete history and physical exam are essential parts of an assessment that should also include questions about diet, eating and exercise habits, and body image. Laboratory tests may provide additional supportive data. Treatment includes education, discontinuation of laxatives, medical follow-up as necessary, and psychotherapy. A college campus is an ideal forum for education, referral, and prevention programs.     

Development and validation of the College Tobacco Survey

The authors report on the development and assessment of an instrument to measure baseline campus cigarette use and outcomes from prevention programs, including those using a social norms approach combined with environmental policy change. They administered the 37-item College Tobacco Survey (CTS) to a convenience sample of 1,279 college students in freshmen-level classes at a large urban university. Factor analysis of 15 belief items revealed 3 factors: Peer Environment, Personal Effects, and Campus Policy Endorsement. The findings support the survey's reliability and validity. The authors discuss potential uses of the survey in terms of social norms and environmental prevention programs.     

HEADS UP! A nested intervention with freshmen male college students and the broader campus community to promote responsible drinking

The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism developed several guidelines for effective interventions in dealing with problematic college student drinking, including targeted individual interventions paired with broader campus community involvement. The project Heads UP! combines these suggestions in an effort to intervene with high-risk first-year male college students. The objective of the program is to reduce campus alcohol-related negative events and prevent these high-risk students from developing dangerous drinking patterns throughout college. The project provides an environment that supports students in actively following the goals outlined by the intervention, and it actively impacts the overall campus by helping students make responsible drinking decisions. Promising results are forthcoming, and the authors encourage other universities to design and adopt similar campus-supported programs nested within the broader campus community that target high-risk populations on campus.