PROTECTIVE BEHAVIORAL STRATEGIES AND ALCOHOL USE AMONG COLLEGE ATHLETES

Research Objectives: To investigate the relationship between the use of specific protective behavior strategies (PBS) related to drinking alcohol among college athletes.

Design: This cross-sectional study used survey findings from 2017, which asked college-age students from multiple undergraduate schools in New Hampshire about their alcohol consumption and protective behavioral strategy use. Inferential statistics were used to explore the association between protective drinking behaviors and alcohol consumption among college-age students based on their participation (or not) in athletics.

Setting: Colleges and Universities

Participants: Survey was sent electronically to 14,422 students at seven colleges and universities in the state of New Hampshire in 2017. Two thousand eight hundred and forty-seven students responded to the survey resulting in a total of 2,115 valid responses

Interventions: Not Applicable

Main Outcome Measures: The level of student-athlete participation, number of protective behavioral strategies and drinking behaviors were measured by using a combination of items from the survey. Responses were scored on a Likert scale.

Results: Intercollegiate athletes were found to be just as vulnerable as club sport participant and non-participating students. Implications from results include that non-participating students would benefit as much from using PBS as their club sport and intercollegiate athlete peers.

Conclusions: Overall, the more protective behavioral strategies (PBS) used by students, athlete and 
non-participating alike, the less they participated in drinking behaviors and the less alcohol consumed. Student-athletes and their relationship to alcohol consumption were not only impacted by their PBS use but also by the level of involvement they invested in sports participation as well. Future directions include impact of athletic participation and PBS use among students who identify with culturally underrepresented groups.

Author(s) Disclosures: The authors declare that they have no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper.