Ruth C. Engs and David J. Hanson. Reactance Theory: A
test with collegiate drinking. Psychological Reports. 64:1083-1086,
1989.
Abstracts and tables examining drinking trends among college students since the early 1980s including comparisons between over and under-21 year old drinkers
This file includes just the abstract and tables from the articles "Boozing and Brawling," "Current Drinking from National Sample," "Drinking Games," and testing "Control of consumption" and "Reactance theories." You will see that many negative behaviors related to alcohol consumption, with the exception of drinking and driving, have increased since 1987 when all states were required to have 21 year old purchase laws. Please keep in mind that "binge drinking" is refered to as heavy drinking in these tables.
Ruth C. Engs and David J. Hanson. Reduction of
Consumption Theory: A test using the drinking patterns and problems of collegians in the
United States, 1983-1994. College Student Journal, in press
1999.
Ruth C. Engs and David J. Hanson
REDUCTION OF CONSUMPTION THEORY: A TEST USING THE
DRINKING PATTERNS AND PROBLEMS OF COLLEGIANS IN THE UNITED STATES,
1983-1994
This study was supported by funding from Indiana University
and the State University of New York, Potsdam. SUMMARY
A national sample of university students in the United States over
a twelve year time period from the 1982-1983 to the 1993-1994 academic
year was used to test the reduction (control) of consumption model. The
total sample size for each of five time periods during the duration of
the study was: 10,247 in 1993-1994; 6,751 in 1990-1991; 6,872 in 1987-1988;
4,719 in 1984-1985; and 5,504 in 1982-1983. Students were administered
The Student Alcohol Questionnaire for each of the time periods. The results
showed a significant (p< .001) increase in the percent of abstainers
(17.7 to 26.8) and a significant (p< .001) decrease in the mean number
of drinks consumed per week among all students (14.3 to 13.1) over the
twelve year period. There was a significant (p< .001) decrease in the
of drinks consumed per week among all students (14.3 to 13.1) over the
twelve year period. There was a significant (p< .001) decrease in the
percent of students who exhibited four drinking and driving related
variables,
an example of which is having driven a car after consuming several drinks.
However, there was a significant increase (p< .001) or stabilization
of most health/ personal (for example, vomiting as a result of drinking),
social/academic (for example, missing a class because of a hangover), and
legal/violent (for example, getting into a fight after drinking) problems
related to alcohol. It was concluded that the reduction of consumption
hypothesis was supported only by the drinking and driving variables.
____________________________________________________________________________
Quantity/Frequency 1982-83 1984-85 1987-88 1990-91 1993-94
Drinking Patterns N=5978 N=5209 N=7480 N=7221 N=11529
____________________________________________________________________________
Abstainers 17.7 10.4 20.9 21.6 26.8*
(N=8296)
Light-Moderate 61.8 59.8 57.6 56.9 51.9
(N=21,245)
Heavy 20.5 20.8 21.5 21.5 21.3
(N=7957)
___________________________________
* p < .001, X2 = 276.2, df=8
NOTE: Table 2 with changes in behavior not yet available. This article will be published sometime late 1999 in College Student Journal.
Ruth C. Engs and David J. Hanson. Reactance Theory: A
test with collegiate drinking. Psychological Reports. 64:1083-1086,
1989.
REACTANCE THEORY: A TEST WITH COLLEGIATE DRINKING
This study was supported by funding from Indiana University and the State University of New York, Potsdam.
ABSTRACT: Reactance theory suggests that attempting to prevent alcohol consumption among underage college students will create reactance motivation and lead to increased drinking among such students. Since July 1987, it has been illegal throughout the USA for those under 21 years of age to purchase alcohol. In a national sample of 3,375 college students during the 1987-1099 academic year, significantly (p < .05) more underage students were found to drink. This relationship is in marked contrast to the patterns document by research extending back to the early 1950s and is interpreted as supportring reactance theory.
__________________________________________________________________________
Drinking Classification Under 21 years 21 years +
(N=1,987) (N=1,388)
Abstainer 18.8% 24.7%
Infrequent Drinker 9.6 11.0
Light Drinker 9.5 11.1
Moderate Drinker 17.8 18.2
Moderate/heavy Drinker 20.4 19.8
Heavy Drinker 24.0 15.3
__________________________________________________________________________
* p < .001
Note: HEAVY DRINKER: drinks 5 or more drinks once a week or
more; MODERATE HEAVY: drinks 3 to 4 drinks more than once a week or drinks 5
or more drinks no more that once a month at any one sitting;
MODERATE: drinks at least once a month with no more than 3 to 4 drinks,
drinks two or three times a week with no more than 2 to 3 drinks, or
drinks daily with no more than 1 or 2 drinks; LIGHT: drinks at least once
a month but not more than 1 to 3 drinks; INFREQUENT: drinks more than once a year but less than once a
month: ABSTAINER: drinks less than once a year or not at all.
Ruth C. Engs and David J. Hanson. Drinking Games and problems
related to drinking among moderate and heavy drinkers.
Psychological Reports. 73:115-120, 1993
This study was supported by funding from Indiana University and the State University of New York, Potsdam.
DRINKING GAMES AND PROBLEMS RELATED TO DRINKING AMONG MODERATE AND HEAVY DRINKERSABSTRACT: The playing of drinking games, the quantity-frequency of alcohol consumption, and various problems related
to drinking were assessed among a national sample of 3,830 alcohol
consuming students from 58 American colleges and universities during the
1990-1991 academic year. Among Light-Moderate drinkers, a significantly higher proportion of students who had played
a drinking game experienced 15 of 17 drinking-related problems. On the
other hand, among Heavy drinkers there was little difference between game
and non-game players. A higher percentage of game players had experienced
five of the problems. Generally, for many problems, more than twice as
many Heavy drinkers among both game and non game players had exhibited
the problem compared to more moderate drinkers. It was concluded that game
playing appeared to increase problems related to alcohol primarily among
more moderate drinkers whereas Heavy drinking students were exhibiting
more problems regardless of their game-playing status. Education about
the effect of game playing among students who are moderate drinkers should
be addressed.
_____________________________________________________________________
LIGHT TO MODERATE HEAVY DRINKERS
DRINKERS
Have Played Games Have Played Games
YES NO YES NO
Problem (n=1924) (n=878) (n=962) (n=66)
Hangover 78.7 43.5* 95.5 89.4+
Nausea or 54.1 20.8* 76.9 51.5*
vomited
Driven car 39.1 22.0* 6.3 73.4
after several
drinks
Driven car 27.1 12.4* 56.9 60.9
when knew had
too much to drink
Driven while 27.9 11.0* 58.4 51.6
drinking
Come to class 4.5 1.1* 16.1 12.5
after drinking
Cut classes 7.6 2.2* 23.8 13.6
because of
drinking
Missed class 24.8 4.0* 57.5 30.3*
because of hangover
Arrested for DWI .5 .5 3.5 3.1
Criticized by 10.4 4.0* 24.1 14.1
date
Trouble with 4.5 .6* 18.8 9.4
the law
Lost a job .3 .0 1.4 1.6
Lower grade 4.3 1.1* 15.2 9.4
Trouble with 1.4 .2+ 6.3 4.7
school administra-
tion
Gotten into 13.4 3.2* 36.4 9.1*
a fight
Thought might 6.9 3.5* 20.4 25.0
have drinking
problem
Damaged property 7.0 .9* 25.6 6.1+
___________________
+ p < .05 * p < .001
Please note that the number of students and colleges included for each time period may differ in different articles. This is due to the fact that not all colleges participated each time.
