Utilizing the Social Ecological Model to Address Drinking Behaviors Among College Students Participating in NCAA Division I Non-Revenue Generating Sports

摘要

College students between the ages of 18 and 24 are considered high-risk for alcohol-related negative consequences due to drinking at high-risk levels (Barry, Howell & Salaga, 2015). Within that population, varsity student athletes are considered at even greater risk for those issues (Druckman, 2015; Wechsler, 2002).;With football and men's basketball being considered the only revenue-generating NCAA Division I sports, non-revenue-generating sports consist of the majority of student athletes (NCAA, 2016). This study is designed to examine high-risk drinking as well as alcohol-related consequences among non-revenue-generating student athletes attending a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I school.;The sample population for this study attends a large, Power 5 Conference, NCAA Division I institution located in the United States. Of the sample, there are 228 respondents representing the majority of non-revenue-generating sports and nearly 68% of the total population of student athletes who participated in non-revenue-generating sports. Utilizing the Athletic Identification Measurement Scale (AIMS), the Identification of Psychological Group scale (IDPG), and the Harvard College Alcohol Study (Wechsler, 2002), this study identifies factors that may associate with high-risk drinking and alcohol-related consequences set within the framework of the Social Ecological Model of Prevention (Brewer Van Raalte & Linder, 1993).;Through descriptive statistics and basic correlation methods, the study examines the role of factors in four of the five levels of the Social Ecological Model of Prevention (individual, relationship, organizational, and community---public policy is not used for this study) as compared to high-risk drinking and alcohol-related negative consequences. The findings of this study indicate that this population experiences negative consequences in greater volume than respondents to the College Alcohol Study (Wecshler, 2002) and the NCAA Alcohol Study (2014), which may imply that non-revenue-generating student athletes are at a higher risk than revenue-generating athletes. Additionally, teams with the most dissonance regarding the team alcohol policy are more likely to experience alcohol-related negative consequences. Teams that are consistent in their understanding of the team alcohol policy experience fewer alcohol-related negative consequences, regardless of the overall levels of high-risk drinking.