1. THE EFFECT OF AGE ON THE DRINKING HABITS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS WITH LOW SELF-ESTEEM Lisa Miller

2. LITERATURE REVIEW  70 percent of young adults in the United States consumed alcohol in the year prior to the 2001-2002 NESARC survey (Chen, Dufour, & Hsiao-ye, 2004)  Alcohol consumption has been linked to both an individual’s age and his or her level of self-esteem.  Younger students (18-21) drink more than older students (21+)  As students age number of times they drink doesn’t change, but amount of alcohol consumed decreases  Older students don’t have “thrill” of drinking  Brains mature as students; self-regulation increases

3. LITERATURE REVIEW  People with high self-esteem drink more after having positive experiences, those with low self- esteem drink more after negative experiences  Life change events: can be stressful, negative experiences  Younger students + more life change events=lower self-esteem than older students  Self-esteem increases gradually through middle/high school into college years

4. HYPOTHESES  Younger college students (e.g. freshmen and sophomores) with low self-esteem will consume more alcohol than older students (e.g. juniors and seniors) with low self-esteem.  College students with lower self-esteem will consume more alcohol than students with high self-esteem.

5. METHOD Participants  Ten male (N=4) and female (N=6) undergraduate students enrolled at Minnesota State University, Mankato.  Ranged between the ages of 19 and 25 years.  Represented the freshman (N=2), sophomore (N=3), junior (N=3), and senior (N=2) classes of Minnesota State and represented a wide variety of majors.

6. METHOD Materials Questionnaires  Modified version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965)  Cronbach’s alpha of 0.592  Modified version of the Student Alcohol Questionnaire (Engs, 1975)  Cronbach’s alpha of 0.704

7. METHOD Procedure  All participants completed an Informed Consent form and received a debriefing form at the end of the study  Students asked to complete both surveys and provide basic demographic data  Each participant received an identification number so information would remain anonymous

8. RESULTS  Data were analyzed using SPSS Version 18. The Alpha level was set at p < 0.05 for the linear regression. Linear Regression  Alcohol consumption level of college students was regressed by participants’ year in school and level of self-esteem. The mean score on the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale was gathered for analysis (M=3.94; SD=0.425). The mean score on the Student Alcohol Questionnaire was also utilized in analyzing data for significance (M=4.283; SD=0.319).  The results of the linear regression were not significant.

9. RESULTS Table 1 Results of a Linear Regression Predicting the Effects of Age and Self-esteem on College Drinking Habits VariableBeta p_________ Average Self-esteem score0.065 0.860 Year in School-0.429 0.265 _____________________________________________

10. DISCUSSION  Results were not significant  No relationship was found between age, self-esteem, or alcohol consumption  Implications of Research  Small sample size  Sample was not diverse (esp. age)  All students had similar levels of self-esteem  Future Research  Conduct a similar study with a larger sample size and more time and resources

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