Christiane Stock

7/31/2019 Christiane Stock

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The association betweeneducational achievement and

alcohol use in university students:

Findings from the United Kingdom

Walid El Ansaria, Christiane Stockb

aUniversity of GloucestershirebUniversity of Southern Denmark


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Unit for Health Promotion Research

Background

The relationship between problematic alcoholconsumption and academic performance is a key

concern on university and college campuses. Alcohol consumption has been negatively associated

with academic performance.

Only few studies have used objective measures of

academic performance. Few authors have analysed whether frequency of

drinking or amount of alcohol is more important inpredicting academic performance.


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This study examined the associations between threeacademic achievement variables and three alcohol

consumption variables (frequency of alcoholconsumption, heavy episodic drinking, and problemdrinking).

Which of the measures of alcohol consumption is mostinfluential?

Which academic outcome is mostly affected by alcoholdrinking?

Aims


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MethodsData collection

Cross-sectional study among 380 university students at theUniversity of Gloucestershire who completed a general healthquestionnaire. Their module grades were retrieved from theuniversity computer systems

Alcohol drinking

Frequency of alcohol consumption in the past three months Heavy episodic drinking (had 5 drinks in a row) in the past 30 days

Problem drinking (CAGE score)

Educational achievement

Students reflectionon their academic achievement (importance ofachieving good grades)

Students subjective comparativeappraisal of their overall academicattainment (academic performance in comparison with their peers)

Actual module mark


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Frequency of alcohol consumption

All

Males

Females0

10

20

3040

50

NeverLessthan

once aweek

Once aweek

Severaltimes aweek

Everyday Several

times aday

P=0.04


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Had five or more drinks in a row last month

All

MalesFemales0

5

10

15

2025

30

None1 time

2 times3-5

times6-9

times10 ormore

times

p


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Problem drinking (positive answers in CAGE)

All

Males

Females

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

1 positiveanswer 2 positive

answers 3 positive

answers4 positiveanswers

P=0.04


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Characteristics of educational achievement

Variable Whole

sample

(N=380)

Male

(N=195)

Female

(N=185)

P

Value

Importance of having good grades at University N.S.

Very important 64.1 61.7 66.7

Somewhat important 34.3 36.3 32.2Not very important 1.3 1.6 1.1

Not at all important 0.3 0.5 0.0

Rating of ones academic performance in comparison with

fellow students

N.S.

Much better 2.1 3.1 1.1

Better 21.3 22.3 20.2

The same 62.5 62.2 62.8Worse 13.8 12.4 15.3

Much worse 0.3 0 0.5

University Computerised Student Records

Module Mark- actual

achieved % grade: Mean

(SD)

54.56

(12.9)

53.90

(12.1)

55.68

(12.4)

N.S.


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Regression models for three academic achievement indicators

on heavy episodic drinking* as dependent variable

Variable Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Stand.

P

Value

Stand.

P

Value

Stand.

P

Value

Age -0.252


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Regression models for three academic achievement indicators

on problem drinking*as dependent variable

Variable Model 1 Model 2 Model 3

Stand. P

Value

Stand. P

Value

Stand. P

Value

Age -0.078 0.146 -0.063 0.242 -0.048 0.400

Male gender 0.147 0.006 0.159 0.003 0.138 0.014

Importance of good

grades-0.104 0.047

Performance relativeto peers

-0.036 0.494

Module marka -0.054 0.327

Adjusted R2 of the

model0.04 0.001 0.03 0.006 0.02 0.038

* Problem drinking: number of positive answers in CAGE


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Results

We found relatively strong negative associationsbetween heavy episodic drinking and subjectivemeasures of academic achievement (importance of good

grades, academic performance relative to peers). The other two measures of alcohol drinking (frequency

of alcohol consumption and problem drinking) showedfewer associations with academic outcomes than heavy

episodic drinking.While alcohol drinking was related to impairments in

subjectively reported academic achievement, we failedto find associations with objectively measured module

marks.


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Limitations

Sample size

Module mark may not reflect average grades

Selection bias (no data on students not attendingclasses)

Under-reporting of drinking, while over-reporting ofacademic performance

No causal relationships Many other (unmeasured) factors might interfere


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Academic

achievementat university

Academic

achievement athigh school

Early alcoholuse

Heavyalcohol use

Other impairmentsSleepSocio-emotionalproblems

Etc.

Other factors

U i f H l h P i R h


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Conclusions

Alcohol misuse, especially heavy episodic drinking isvery likely to have negative consequences on academicperformance.

Alcohol policies on campus and educational andnormative campaigns for students are highly relevant.

Future research should include prospective designs aswell as objective and subjective measures for academicperformance.

Christiane Stock

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