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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Katherine Theall, PhD, Neal Simonsen, PhD, Karen Mason, PhD, Sandy Johnson, PhD, and Richard Scribner, MD, MPH. Epidemiology, LSU School of Public Health, 1600 Canal Street 8th Floor, New Orleans, LA 70112, 504 495 1647, kthea1@lsuhsc.edu

Objectives: Despite the institutional commitment to address the problem, there have been few conclusive findings regarding the factors driving college drinking or effective means of intervention. To examine the possible role of campus-level contextual factors (e.g., bar density) in college drinking, a multilevel analysis was performed.

Methods: A representative sample of students (N=17,051) from 31 institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the United States who took part in the Social Norms Marketing Research Program (SNMRP) were included. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted at each IHE over a four-year period. Multilevel models were constructed using student- and campus-level predictors of college drinking. Bar density was characterized as the number of bars within three miles of campus per 1000 students enrolled.

Results: The proportion of total variance in student drinking explained at the campus level was 4.1%, 12.7%, and 10.2% for past month drinking occasions, drinks when partying, and binge drinking, respectively. Adding bar density to the multilevel model explained over 60% of the campus-level variance in the number of drinks when partying. After controlling for the treatment effect and individual factors associated with student drinking, students from campuses with higher bar densities reported significantly greater levels of alcohol consumption.

Conclusions: Off-campus bar density is a strong predictor of college drinking. Given the limited number of modifiable factors that effect college drinking, bar density represents a potential modifiable means of addressing the problem.

Learning Objectives: