Parental proximity and changes in beer consumption between academic year and vacation periods Johan Rosiers - Association for Alcohol and other Drug problems Guido Van Hal & Bart Vriesacker - University of Antwerp Lea Maes & Anne Hublet – University of Ghent

Background and aims VAD: prevention based on scientific findings Alcohol & drug prevention in educational settings: focus on secundary education Tertiary education: specific alcohol & drug use patterns need for research on consumption, consumption patterns and contextual influences partnership with universities of Antwerp and Ghent to conduct a large-scale survey among university and college students

Methods Questionnaire-based study: Alcohol & drug use (prevalence & frequency) Problematic use (AUDIT, DAST-10, …) … All students invited to participate (anonymous online survey) Response rate 2009: 21.9% Stratified sample, random selection

Sample characteristics 54.8% female; 45.2% male 96.4% aged years 52.8% commuter; 47.2% residential Commuter students = students living in their parents house during the week Residential students = students living in private or institutional accomodations, mostly in urban university or college areas

Results: living situation & alcohol ResidentialCommuterSig. Frequent beer drinking (academic year) * 48.5%35.0% χ ²(1)=52.043; p<0.001 AUDIT-score (means) t=-6.286; p<0.001 AUDIT score > 15 **8.3%4.3% χ ²(1)=20.359; p<0.001 *: beer drinking at least once a week on average **: AUDIT score > 15 indicates harmful and hazardous drinking.

Drinking & vacation Literature: Adolescents and young adults, spending their vacations with peers and away from parental supervision, tend to drink much more than when they are not on a vacation (Van de Luitgaarden et al., 2006 & 2010; Hughes et al., 2009; Johnson et al., 2010) Hypothesis: Comparison academic year - vacation periods: bigger difference in parental monitoring among commuter students, compared to residential students, leads to a higher frequency of alcohol use among commuter students during vacation periods

Results: alcohol use in vacation periods Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test Analysis hypothesis: median of differences between beer use in academic year and beer use during vacation periods equals 0 Residential students: Sig=0.349 Commuter students: Sig.<0.001 Commuter students drink beer more frequently during vacations than during the academic year, whereas this difference is not found among residential students

Results: impact of living status Logistic regression model; dependent variable = difference in frequency of beer drinking between vacation and academic year Independent variablesO.R.95% CI Living status (residential - commuter) Gender (M-F) Age of onset beer use(n.s.) Frequency of pub/bar visits R² Nagelkerke = 0.23

Discussion (1) Results indicate that parental proximity, linked to living status, is a protective factor Parental disapproval of (heavy) drinking and parental monitoring are protective factors (Walls et al., 2009; Surkan et al., 2012; Moore et al., 2010) But pre-university/pre-college factors seem to influence the choice of living status: Pre-college drinking is a strong indicator for college drinking (LaBrie et al., 2009) Students with pre-college-drinking history appear to seek out living environments that facilitate the continuation and escalation of their existing drinking behaviour (Park et al., 2009)

Discussion (2) Qualitative protective aspects of parental proximity should be taken into account when prevention approaches are developed: A positive family environment Good parent-child interaction based on mutual respect Strong attachment parent-siblings (Becoña et al., 2012; LaBrie & Sessoms, 2012; Moore et al. 2010; Ryan et al., 2010) Limits of this study: explorative study & insensitive measure bias further research is needed.

Recommendations Although peer influences become more important in the transition adolescent-adult, especially when students leave their parents house, parents continue to influence their chidrens alcohol use and consequences during the college year (Walls et al., 2009) Besides student-oriented and peer-oriented initiatives, prevention efforts should also be aimed at specific parent-oriented prevention

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