Relationships Between Social Network Characteristics, Alcohol Use, and Alcohol-Related Consequences in a Large Network of First-Year College Students: How Do Peer Drinking Norms Fit In?

Authors

Graham T. DiGuiseppi, University of Southern California
Matthew K. Meisel, University of Southern California
Sara G. Balestrieri, University of Southern California
Miles Q. Ott, Smith CollegeFollow
Melissa A. Clark, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Nancy P. Barnett, University of Southern California

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2018

Publication Title

Psychology of Addictive Behaviors

Volume

32

Issue

8

Abstract

A burgeoning area of research is using social network analysis to investigate college students' substance use behaviors. However, little research has incorporated students' perceived peer drinking norms into these analyses. The present study investigated the association between social network characteristics, alcohol use, and alcohol-related consequences among first-year college students (N 1,342; 81% of the first-year class) at one university. The moderating role of descriptive norms was also examined. Network characteristics and descriptive norms were derived from participants' nominations of up to 10 other students who were important to them; individual network characteristics included popularity (indegree), network expansiveness (outdegree), relationship reciprocity, and network density. Descriptive norms were defined as participants' average perceived binge drinking frequency among their nominated peers. Network autocorrelation models revealed that indegree and descriptive norms were positively associated with participants' average number of drinks per week, binge drinking frequency, and alcohol-related consequences. Indegree and outdegree interacted with descriptive norms, such that when participants perceived less frequent binge drinking among their peers, outdegree was associated with less alcohol consumption but not consequences. When participants perceived more frequent binge drinking among their peers, indegree and outdegree were associated with more alcohol consumption but not consequences. The present results suggest that being popular and believing that heavy episodic drinking is normative among one's peers are associated with greater alcohol risk. Further, alcohol risks associated with nominating more peers may be enhanced or lessened depending on students' peer drinking norms. Implications for future research and interventions are discussed.

Comments

Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.

First Page

914

Last Page

924

Recommended Citation

DiGuiseppi, Graham T.; Meisel, Matthew K.; Balestrieri, Sara G.; Ott, Miles Q.; Clark, Melissa A.; and Barnett, Nancy P., "Relationships Between Social Network Characteristics, Alcohol Use, and Alcohol-Related Consequences in a Large Network of First-Year College Students: How Do Peer Drinking Norms Fit In?" (2018). Statistical and Data Sciences: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/sds_facpubs/27

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1037/adb0000402

Rights

Licensed to Smith College and distributed CC-BY under the Smith College Faculty Open Access Policy.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.