Examining alcohol-related problems among Greek pledges: An Integrated Behavioral Model Approach

Background: Alcohol-related problems (ARP) among college students continue to negatively influence their overall health and quality of life. Theoretical frameworks like the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) are useful when examining complex behaviors like alcohol use and ARP. IBM suggests that attitudes, injunctive norms, and descriptive norms influence intention, which subsequently influences health behavior. Additionally, these same constructs can be used to better understand problems associated with behavior, specifically ARP.

Methods: Paper-and-pencil surveys were administered to 1,459 Greek pledges during the Fall 2010 at a large university in the Southern US. Attitudes toward alcohol, injunctive and descriptive norms, satisfaction with life (SWL) and gender were entered into a backward stepwise multiple regression analysis, while controlling for drinking behavior, to determine which variables best predict ARP among Greek pledges.

Results: The model explained 42.9% (adjusted R2) of the variance in ARP and was significant (p<.001). After controlling for drinking behavior (p<.001), permissive attitudes toward alcohol, higher levels of perceived alcohol use among peers (descriptive norms), lower levels of SWL, and being female were significantly (p<.001) related with ARP, with attitude holding the strongest relationship.

Conclusions: This study supports the use of the IBM to more fully understand ARP among Greek pledges. Specifically, these findings have important implications for future health promotion programming aimed at decreasing ARP among Greek pledges, as potential determinants outside of drinking behavior are identified. Further research is needed to better understand this relationship.