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Gina M. Piane, DrPH, CHES, Health Science Department, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90840, 5629852137, gpiane@csulb.edu and Alan M. Safer, PhD, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90840.
Purpose: To identify a pattern of alcohol consumption among Asian and Latino CSULB students and to determine if these patterns regress along measures of acculturation. Significance: College students are healthier than their non-attending counterparts in all areas of health except for alcohol and drug use. The numbers of college students who drink, drink heavily, binge drink, use recreational drugs, and smoke cigarettes has been incredibly resistant to prevention programs over the past 25 years. Students who engage in these high-risk behaviors are more likely to encounter health and social problems such as; physical injury, unprotected sexual activity, date rape, suicide, property damage, failure in school, legal tangles and damaged relationships. The diversity of CSULB students allows the researcher a unique opportunity to apply the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to Asian and Latino students. The current research seeks to describe the drinking patterns according to the theory and to add the construct of acculturation as an influence on beliefs, attitudes, and subjective norms surrounding drinking (TPB constructs). Methods: The survey instrument was developed to include a scale of acculturation as well as TPB constructs. A multivariate Statistical Analysis was employed to determine variance in TPB constructs relative to acculturation. Results: TPB constructs do vary according to level of acculturation. Conclusions: Level of acculturation can aid Health Educators to predict attitudes and subjective norms surrounding alcohol use among college students and therefore allow them to create effective health promotion programs.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Alcohol Use, College Students
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.