Alcohol and drug use among college student adult children of alcoholics.

ABSTRACT

The present paper compared drinking and drug use in Adult Children of Alcoholics (ACOAs), compared to non-ACOAs, among college students. Participants were 572 undergraduates. ACOAs were more likely to be current drug users than non-ACOAs. ACOAs reported initiating alcohol use earlier than non-ACOAs; however, ACOAs did not drink more often or mote heavily than non-ACOAs. Among ACOAs, suspecting one's mother or both parents of alcohol abuse predicted greater likelihood of lifetime drinking; suspecting one's father of alcohol abuse was associated with more frequent drinking during the school year. The fact that ACOA status was not associated with the frequency and amount of alcohol consumed may reflect that 73.3% of the sample were drinkers, and 31.9% met criteria for binge drinking in the previous month.

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Approximately 85% of college students have tried alcohol (Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2007), and two in three college students report drinking in the previous month (Johnston, O'Malley, & Bachman, 2003). In fact, it has been estimated that 31% of the eight million college students in the U.S. meet diagnostic criteria for alcohol abuse (Knight, et al., 2002). Although the frequency with which college students drink has been well-established, we know much less about whether parental alcoholism is associated with drinking behavior or drug use among college students. Thus, the focus of the present study was to examine whether suspecting one or both parents of alcohol abuse was related to conventional assessments of drinking (e.g., heavy drinking, frequency of drinking) and drug use behavior, and whether maternal versus paternal alcohol abuse was associated with alcohol and drug use in ACOAs.

Substance Use among College Students

One of the most common indicators of problem drinking is heavy episodic drinking, defined as five or more drinks on one occasion in the past month (Core Institute, 2005). Heavy drinking peaks during late adolescence and early adulthood are especially common among 18 to 24-year-olds who attend college (Hingson, Heeren, Zakocs, Kopstein, & Wechsler, 2002; Johnston et al., 2007). Approximately 40 to 45% of undergraduates nationwide report engaging in heavy drinking (e.g., O'Malley & Johnston, 2002; Wechsler & Kuo, 2000). Although many individuals mature out of heavy drinking in their 20s, earlier age of onset of drinking (Grant et al., 2006: Johnson et al., 2007) and early problem drinkers are at risk for continued problem drinking (e.g., Bennett, McCrady, Johnson, & Pandina, 1999).

Relative to our knowledge of alcohol use among college students, much less is known about illegal drug use among college students. A 2005 survey of 3,629 full-time undergraduate students found 1,164 (32%) reported past-year drug use of marijuana, cocaine, LSD, heroin, crystal methamphetamine, ecstasy, nonmedical use of pain, sleeping, or anxiety medication; McCabe & Teter, 2007). A similar nation-wide study of college students found 33.5% of college students used marijuana and 15.5% used another type of drug in the previous year (Core Institute, 2005).

Risk Factors for College Student Alcohol and Drug Abuse

Alcohol use by college students is often thought to reflect the availability of alcohol, new found freedoms for many students, the pursuit of adulthood, alcohol expectancies, peer influences, alcohol marketing that targets college students, and perceptions of drinking on campus (see Jessor, Costa, Krueger, & Turbin, 2006; Kuo, Wechsler, Greenberg, & Lee, 2003; Neighbors, Lee, Lewis, Fossos, & Larimer, 2007). These factors combined with the fact that many college students have not learned to drink in moderation may result in excessive drinking.

Although the college student environment appears to be conducive to alcohol use, family history of alcoholism appears to create greater risk for adult alcohol (e.g., Chassin, Pitts, DeLucia, & Todd, 1999; King & Chassin, 2007; Ross & Hill, 2001; Sher, Walitzer, Wood, & Brent, 1991; Zhou, King, & Chassin, 2006) and drug abuse (Chassin et al., 1999). Moreover, as early as high school, ACOAs report more alcohol use than their non-ACOA peers (Ross & Hill, 2001). Chassin, Curran, Hussong, and Colder (1996) found that having an alcoholic father increases the likelihood of substance use among adolescents, and having an alcoholic father increases the rate at which substance use grows. Even after controlling for other risk factors such as age, gender, and family conflict, parental alcoholism is associated with increased odds of alcohol and drug dependence (King & Chassin, 2007). Both age at drinking onset and family history of alcoholism have been associated with significantly greater odds of being in a problem drinking trajectory group from adolescence to young adulthood (Warner, White, & Johnson, 2007). Additionally, individuals with an alcohol-abusing parent report more negative outcomes from drinking than individuals who do not have an alcoholic parent (e.g., Pollock, Schnieder, & Gabrielli, 1987). Although family history of alcoholism and particularly parental alcoholism are associated with greater likelihood of developing a drinking problem and negative outcomes from drinking, whether college student ACOAs report heavier and more frequent drinking behavior as compared to college students who do not meet criteria for ACOA, has not been established.

There are a number of reasons why alcohol abuse by a parent may create additional risk for substance use behaviors among college students. ACOAs may model substance use behaviors or model inappropriate behavior in response to negative affect or other life events (Patterson, 1986). It is also possible that alcohol misuse by a parent may increase a child's willingness to experiment with illegal drugs. Related to this, a question that has received little attention is whether maternal, paternal, or both parents' alcohol abuse is associated with offspring substance use. This question may be particularly important for college students because alcohol use is common among undergraduate students and younger college students may have greater access to alcohol via their older peers. Westermeyer, Yoon, and Thuras (2007) found two parents with alcohol use disorder was related to earlier age of offspring drinking as compared to one parent with alcohol use disorder. Chassin, Rogosch, and Barrera (1991) found elevated drug and alcohol use among early to mid adolescents from homes where there was parental alcohol abuse.

Some researchers have found that fathers' drinking seems to have a stronger influence on the development of adolescent drinking (Chassin et al., 1996; Gruber, Celan, Golik-Gruber, Agius, & Murphy, 2007; Pollock et al., 1987). However, mothers tend to bear the major responsibility for children's daily lives through the work and school week (e.g., DeCaro & Worthman, 2007), and mothers are more likely to adjust their daily schedules and labor market activities in response to child needs (Gornick & Meyers, 2003). Similarly, even when mothers work outside the home they are more engaged with and available to children for a greater part of the day than fathers (McBride & Mills, 1993; Robinson & Godbey, 1997). For these reasons, we hypothesized that among ACOAs, two parents' or mothers' suspected alcohol abuse would be associated with more negative outcomes than fathers' drinking.

Hypotheses

We hypothesized that 1) College student ACOAs would initiate drinking at earlier ages than non-ACOA college students; 2) ACOAs would be more likely to use alcohol than those categorized as non-ACOAs; 3) among college students who drink, participants categorized as ACOAs would engage in more frequent and heavy drinking than non-ACOAs; 4) among ACOAs, both parents or maternal alcohol abuse would be related to more frequent and heavy alcohol use; 5) college students categorized as ACOAs would initiate illegal drug use at earlier ages than non-ACOA college students; and 6) college student ACOAs would be more likely to use illegal drugs as compared to non-ACOA college students.

METHOD

Participants and Procedure

The study was approved by the participating university and was conducted in compliance with the code of ethics of the American Psychological Association (2002). A brief description of the survey was posted on an online research board accessible only to students currently enrolled in psychology courses as well as faculty. A link accompanied the online description of the survey, so only those who qualified to view the posting were able to access the survey. Those interested in the study completed an anonymous online survey. After completion of the survey, the final page provided a link to a separate database where participants entered their contact information. Because their survey responses were in a separate datafile from their contact information, their survey responses remained anonymous. In exchange for their participation, respondents were given extra credit in their psychology classes. There were no time restrictions on completing the survey once it was started, and data was collected for two months.

Participants were 627 undergraduate students attending a large university in the southeastern United States. Based on their scores from the Children's Alcohol Screening Test (CAST; Jones, 1983), participants who could not be categorized as ACOAs or non-ACOAs were eliminated from the sample (the categorization process is described below). This resulted in a sample of 572 participants. Of these, 136 (24%) were categorized as ACOAs; 436 (76%) were categorized as non-ACOAs.

Four hundred fifty of the 572 participants (78.6%) were female. Mean age of the sample (N = 572) was 21.47 years (SD = 5.93 years). Year in college was distributed as follows: 31.2% first-year students, 27.9% sophomores, 24.8% juniors, and 14.9% seniors. Post-bachelor students accounted for 1.3% of the participants. Of the 572 participants, 55.2% were White, 29.2% were Black, 6.8% were Asian or Pacific Islander, 2.8% were Hispanic, .3% were Native American, and 5.6% indicated "other" for ethnicity. Demographic information on the participants is reported in Table 1.

Measures

ACOA Screening Test. The Children of Alcoholics Screening Test (CAST; Jones, 1983) is a 30-item questionnaire that assesses the likelihood that the individual resided with an alcoholic-abusing parent during childhood. Participants respond to each item in a "yes" or "no" fashion. Sample items include: "Did you ever wish that a parent would stop drinking?" and "Did you ever feel like hiding or emptying a parent's bottle of liquor?" Affirmative responses are scored 1; negative responses are scored 0. The individual item scores are summed to create a total score. A total score of 0 or 1 indicates that the respondent probably did not live with a problem-drinking parent, whereas a participant with a summed score of 6 or more is considered to have lived with an alcohol-abusing parent. CAST scores of 2, 3, 4, or 5 are considered indeterminate; data from these individuals were excluded from all analyses. In previous research, sell-identified children of alcoholics consistently scored six or higher on the CAST, indicating high validity (Charland & Cote, 1998). The CAST had excellent internal consistency in the present study ([alpha] = .97).

Alcohol use. Participants were asked about their use of alcohol. Those who indicated that they had consumed alcohol were asked the age at which they first started drinking. In addition, participants were asked about current alcohol use (e.g., "In a typical week during the school year, on how many days do you have at least one drink containing alcohol?"; "How many drinks do you have on a typical day during the school year when you are drinking?"; and "During the last thirty days, what is the highest number of drinks that you drank on one occasion?"). Because these behaviors represent different aspects of alcohol use, they were treated as separate outcomes for the purpose of data analysis.

Sociodemographic questionnaire. Participants also completed a demographic questionnaire that assessed age, ethnicity, marital status, and year in college.

RESULTS

Preliminary Analyses

Prior to conducting hypothesis testing, missing data (<5%) were replaced with the grand mean for that variable. The data were also screened for outliers using boxplots. All outliers were Windsorized or reduced to the largest magnitude data point that was not an outlier (Barnett & Lewis, 1994). A total of seven data points were reduced.

Background Comparisons of ACOA and Non-ACOA Groups

Age, participant sex, year in college, and ethnicity were all examined as possible covariates. ACOAs and non-ACOAs did not significantly differ in age, t(417) = -1.92, ns; participant sex, [chi square](1) = .62, ns; year in college, [chi square](4) = 2.55, ns; or ethnicity, [chi square](5) = 7.05, ns. Because these variables had negligible correlations (<.30) with the outcomes of interest, they were not examined further. These correlations can be seen in Table 2. Ethnicity did not differ between the ACOA and non-ACOA groups; however, ANOVAs conducted on drinking participants indicated that ethnicity predicted: age of first alcoholic drink, F(4, 131) = 3.51, p < .01, partial [[eta].sup.2] = .097; how many days per week participants drink at least one alcoholic drink, F(4, 131) = 4.00, p < .01, partial [[eta].sup.2] = .109; how many drinks participants have on a typical day in the school year when they are drinking alcohol, F(4, 130) = 5.09,p < .01, partial [[eta].sup.2] =. 135; and the highest number of drinks they had on one occasion during the previous 30 days, F(4, 131) = 7.01, p < .001, partial [[eta].sup.2] =. 176 (1). A chi-square analysis indicated that sex was unrelated to drinking status, [chi square](1) = 0.40, ns.

Because ethnicity accounted for a small but significant portion of the variance in each of the outcome variables noted above, ethnicity was dummy-coded and included as a predictor in subsequent regressions assessing these outcomes. "White" served as the category of reference because it was the category with the highest frequency (55.2%).

ACOA Categorization and Current Drinking Status

ACOA categorization and self-identification as a current drinker were not significantly related, [[eta].sup.2](1) = .24, ns. Participants who self-identified as lifelong non-drinkers or as former drinkers were combined to represent current non-drinkers (n = 152); all other response codes were combined to represent current drinkers (n = 419). The percentage of participants in each drinking category is reported in Table 3.

Regression Analyses Predicting Drinking Behaviors among College Student Drinkers

Next, regressions were conducted to examine whether or not ACOAs differed from non-ACOAs on the following aspects of alcohol use: 1) age of first alcoholic drink, 2) how many days per week the participant drank at least one alcoholic drink, 3) how many drinks the participant had on a typical day in the school year when they are drinking alcohol, and 4) the largest number of drinks they had on one occasion during the previous 30 days.

Data were reduced to include only self-identified current drinkers. After controlling for ethnicity, hierarchical linear regressions indicated that ACOA categorization significantly predicted age at first drink, [beta] = -.12, p < .05, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .01, such that ACOAs tried their first drink .82 years earlier (M= 15.26 years, SD = 2.95) than non-ACOAs (M = 16.08 years, SD = 2.97).

After controlling for ethnicity, ACOA categorization did not significantly predict how many days per week participants currently drank at least one alcoholic drink, [beta] = .09, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .01; how many drinks participants have on a typical day in the school year when they are drinking alcohol, [beta] = .09, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00; or the largest number of drinks they had on one occasion during the previous 30 days (include question), [beta] = .01, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00.

Relations between Sex of the Alcohol-Abusing Parent and Participant Drinking Behavior

Sex of the alcohol-abusing parent (mother, father, or both) was also explored as a predictor of drinking behaviors. Sex of the alcohol-abusing parent was determined from the following questions embedded in the CAST: "Did you ever think your mother was an alcoholic?"; "Did you ever think your father was an alcoholic?" As compared to ACOAs who suspected their fathers of alcohol abuse (n = 96), ACOAs who reported that they suspected their mothers (n = 43) or both parents (n = 21) of alcohol abuse were more likely to self-identify as drinkers, [chi square](3) = 7.87, p < .05, as compared to suspecting fathers only.

Data were reduced to examine only those ACOAs who were current drinkers. Four regressions were conducted to examine whether, as compared to father's alcohol abuse, suspecting mothers only or both parents of alcohol abuse would be associated with more frequent and heavy drinking behavior.

Suspecting that their mother had a drinking problem did not significantly predict age at which participants first started drinking, [beta] = -.15, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00; how many days per week participants have at least one alcoholic drink, [beta] = .11, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00; how many drinks they have on a typical day in the school year when they are drinking alcohol, [beta] = -.05, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00; or the largest number of drinks they had on one occasion during the previous 30 days, [beta] = .04, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00.

Suspecting one's father of alcohol abuse significantly predicted how many days per week participants have at least one alcoholic drink, [beta] = .29, p < .05, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .01; such that suspecting one's father of alcohol abuse predicted .89 more days of alcohol use during a typical day in the school year. However, suspecting one's father of alcohol abuse was not associated with age participants first started drinking, [beta] = -.07, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00; how many drinks they have on a typical day in the school year when they are drinking alcohol, [beta] = .07, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00; or the largest number of drinks they had on one occasion during the previous 30 days, [beta] = .10, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00.

There also were no significant interactions between participant sex and suspecting one's mother of alcohol abuse: age participants first started drinking, [beta] =. 10, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00; how many days per week participants have at least one alcoholic drink, [beta] = -.09, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00; how many drinks they have on a typical day in the school year when they are drinking alcohol, [beta] = .09, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00; or the largest number of drinks they had on one occasion during the previous 30 days, [beta] = -.01, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00.

In addition, interactions between participant sex and suspecting one's father of alcohol abuse were not significant: age participants first tried alcohol, [beta] = -.01, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00; how many days per week participants have at least one alcoholic drink, [beta] = -.25, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .01 ; how many drinks they have on a typical day in the school year when they are drinking alcohol, [beta] = -.03, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00; or the largest number of drinks they had on one occasion during the previous 30 days, [beta] = -.11, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00. Thus, having a same sex parent who was suspected of alcohol abuse was not associated with younger initiation to alcohol or current drinking behavior compared to having an opposite sex parent suspected of alcohol abuse.

ACOA Categorization and Drug Use

Participants who self-identified as lifelong non-users or as former users now non-users of illegal substances were combined to represent current non-users (n = 470); all other response codes were combined to represent current users (n = 102). There was a significant relationship between ACOA categorization and drug use, [chi square](1) = 3.95, p < .05; 24% of ACOAs reported infrequent, occasional, regular, or frequent illegal drug use, whereas 16% of non-ACOAs reported infrequent, occasional, regular, or frequent illegal drug use. However, alter controlling for ethnicity among current drug users (n = 102), hierarchical linear regressions indicated that ACOA categorization did not significantly predict age of first drug use, [beta] = .00, ns, [pr.sub.i.sup.2] = .00. Illegal drug use was defined as marijuana, Ecstasy, speed, cocaine, crack, painkillers, salvia, LSD, 2C-I, 2C-E, acid, psilocybin mushrooms, and phencyclidine (PCP or angel dust).

DISCUSSION

The major aims of the present investigation were to examine whether or not college students who meet criteria for ACOA status would report earlier and more frequent and heavier drinking behaviors and greater drug use than non-ACOA college students. In addition, we sought to examine whether maternal, paternal, or both parents' alcohol use was associated with alcohol and drug use in ACOAs.

Differences in Drinking Behavior between ACOAs and non-ACOAs

Among drinkers, ACOAs initiated drinking almost one year earlier than non-ACOAs. This is consistent with prior research that suggests parental alcoholism is associated with early onset of drinking (Chassin, Pitts, & Prost, 2002; Dawson, 2000). Other than earlier drinking behavior, meeting self-reported criteria for ACOA did not differentiate the frequency or extent of drinking behavior.

Our inability to parse out differences in drinking behavior between ACOAs and non-ACOAs may reflect the widespread use of alcohol and the nature of a college student sample. The percentage of alcohol users in the present sample, 73.3%, was similar to that reported in recent studies (e.g., Hingson et al., 2005; Johnston et al., 2003). The percentage of students in the present study who met criteria for binge drinking in the previous month was slightly less than that reported in recent studies of college student drinking (i.e., 31.8% for the total sample; 35% for men and 23.6% for women as compared to 40-45% of total college students in recent studies: O'Malley & Johnston, 2002; Wechsler & Kuo, 2000). The number of drinkers and binge drinkers is noteworthy given that 64.9% of the sample was under the legal drinking age.

Although ACOAs did not initiate drug use earlier than their non-ACOA peers, as hypothesized, ACOAs were more likely to use drugs (defined as infrequent, occasional, regular, or frequent drug use). Specifically, 24% of ACOAs reported drug use as compared to 16% of non-ACOAs. Similar to results of studies by Chassin and colleagues (Curran, Hussong, & Colder, 1996; King & Chassin, 2007), these results suggest that college student ACOAs are more likely to use illegal drugs as compared to non-ACOAs, and ACOA status' influence may generalize beyond alcohol use to other types of substance use.

Sex of Suspected Alcoholic Parent and Alcohol Use among ACOAs

An additional goal of the current study was to explore how sex of the suspected alcoholic parent influenced participant drinking behavior. Among ACOAs, participants who suspected their mother or both parents of having a drinking problem were more likely to report being drinkers than ACOAs who reported their fathers of having a drinking problem. In contrast, lathers' drinking was associated with more days of drinking. Although it is difficult to explain these differences, recent studies have found mothers' drinking is more strongly associated with daughters' drinking than fathers' drinking (i.e., Van Gundy, 2002; Yu & Perrine, 1997). It is plausible that offspring, particularly daughters, are more likely to model maternal alcohol use. In part, this may reflect that mothers are typically children's primary caregiver and spend more time with children (Feldman, McDonald, & Serbin, 2007; Tamis-LeMonda, 2004). ACOAs may have greater opportunity to model their mothers' drinking as women are more likely to drink alone or in the home (see Fals-Stewart, Lam, & Kelley, in press).

Study Limitations

Several study limitations should be highlighted. We relied exclusively on students' self-reports. We believe that participant honesty was increased due to the nature of an anonymous online survey. Nevertheless, future research should assess student drinking behavior from multiple sources (e.g., friends). In addition, although parents' reports of their own behaviors may be influenced by a self-serving bias (Miller & Ross, 1975), future research should assess parent drinking from multiple raters including participants, their siblings, and their parents. Moreover, the accuracy of ACOA categorization could also be improved by examining participants whose parents had been diagnosed with alcoholism.

In addition, all data were collected contemporaneously. As such, causal relationships between ACOA categorization and substance use cannot be established. In addition, the generalizability of the findings is likely limited by the nature of college students. Despite the fact that alcohol is prohibited in public areas, and underage drinking is strictly prohibited on campus, alcohol use appears common among undergraduate students attending a large public university.

Conclusions and Implications

Results of the present study replicate previous research that has demonstrated the widespread use and misuse of alcohol by college students. Although ACOAs did not report drinking more frequently or more heavily than non-ACOAs, they began drinking earlier than did non-ACOAs. In addition, ACOAs did not report initiating drug use earlier than non-ACOAs; however, they were more likely to be current drug users as compared to non-ACOAs peers. Thus, parental alcohol abuse appears associated with illegal drug use among college students.

These results have important implications for mental health professionals who work with college students. Specifically, despite attempts by colleges and others to educate college students about alcohol misuse, and efforts to reduce alcohol use on college campuses, stronger prevention and intervention efforts appear to be needed to change drinking behavior among college students.

In addition, the widespread and heavy use of alcohol by a significant number of college students (i.e., the normative nature of alcohol use), may reduce the ability of mental health professionals to identify parental alcohol abuse as a potential risk for problem drinking at this point in development. Nevertheless, previous research has established that parental alcohol abuse is associated with alcohol problems in high school and young adulthood (Chassin et al., 1996; King & Chassin, 2007); therefore, those who work with these young adults should continue to help students understand how parental alcohol abuse may be associated with both alcohol and illegal drug use.

Although some researchers have begun to examine drinking behaviors over time (King & Chassin, 2007; Warner et al., 2007), clearly, additional studies that examine the longitudinal trajectory of drinking and substance use are needed. In particular, investigators should follow individuals past the point in development at which these behaviors typically decline. As our understanding of the development of these disorders increases, we may be able to identify and treat individuals more quickly. Moreover, these results suggest that alcohol abuse by mothers may have different associations with substance use by offspring than fathers' alcohol use. As such, future research should examine how mothers' versus fathers' addiction may be associated with offspring alcohol use.

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Abby L. Braitman, Michelle L. Kelley, Jessica Ladage & Valarie Schroeder

Old Dominion University 

Leslie A. Gumienny

Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology

Jennifer A. Morrow 

University of Tennessee at Knoxville

Keith Klostermann

University of Rochester 

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Abby L. Braitman, M.S., Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, 250 Mills-Godwin Building, Norfolk, VA 23529-0267; Phone: [phone]; Fax: [phone]; email: [e-mail].

(1) White participants were significantly older than Black participants at their first drink (Mean Difference = 1.56 years): no other ethnic groups were significantly different in their age at first drink. Black participants drank significantly fewer days per typical week than White participants (Mean Difference = 0.54) or Hispanic participants (Mean Difference = 0.96); no other ethnic differences were found for number of drinking days per typical week. Black participants also had significantly fewer drinks per drinking day than White participants (Mean Difference = 1.54) or Hispanic participants (Mean Difference = 1.73). Asian participants also had significantly fewer drinks per drinking day than White participants (Mean Difference = 1.51): no other significant ethnic differences were found for typical drinks per drinking day. Finally, the highest number of drinks consumed on one occasion was significantly fewer for Black participants than White (Mean Difference = 2.79) or Hispanic (Mean Difference = 3.73) participants. Asian participants also reported significantly fewer drinks on the highest number of drinks consumed on one occasion than did White (Mean Difference = 2.70) or Hispanic (Mean Difference = 3.64) participants; no other ethnic differences were significant.

TABLE 1
Frequency Table for ACOA Categorization based on Children's Alcohol
Screening Test, Participant Sex, Ethnicity, and Year in

College
Variable                      N      %

ACOA Categorization
  ACOA                       136   23.8
  non-ACOA                   436   76.2
Participant Sex
  Male                       121   21.2
  Female                     450   78.8
Ethnicity
  White, not Hispanic        316   55.2
  Black, not Hispanic        167   29.2
  Hispanic                    16    2.8
  Native American              2    0.3
  Asian, Pacific Islanders    39    6.8
  Other                       32    5.6
Year in College
  Freshman                   172   31.2
  Sophomore                  154   27.9
  Junior                     137   24.8
  Senior                      82   14.9
  Graduate Student             7    1.3

Note. N= 572.

TABLE 2
Correlations between Potential Covariates

Variable                           1          2        3

1. Participant Sex                --
2. Year in College               .04         --
3. Participant Age               .06        .44 ***    --
4. Age First Started Drinking   -.02        .19 ***    .09 *
5. Drinking Days per Week       -.13 **     .08       -.02
6. Drinks per Drinking Day      -.12 **    -.04       -.14 **
7. Highest Number of Drinks     -.15 ***   -.02       -.12 **

Variable                           4         5         6      7

1. Participant Sex
2. Year in College
3. Participant Age
4. Age First Started Drinking    --
5. Drinking Days per Week       .32 ***    --
6. Drinks per Drinking Day      .40 ***   .57 ***    --
7. Highest Number of Drinks     .37 ***   .65 ***   .77 ***   --

Note. Participant sex coded: 0 = male, 1 = female. * p < .05,
** p < .01, *** p < .001.

TABLE 3
Alcohol and Drug Use Behavior for the Sample

Question                        N              %

Drinking
  Lifelong non-drinker         117           20.5
  Former drinker                35            6.1
  Infrequent drinker            22            3.8
  Occasional drinker           176           30.8
  Regular drinker              133           23.3
  Frequent drinker              88           15.4
Drug Use
  Lifelong drug user           355           62.1
  Former drug user             115           20.1
  Infrequent drug user          24            4.2
  Occasional drug user          38            6.6
  Regular drug user             15            2.6
  Frequent drug user            15            2.6

                               M      SD    Range

Days per week (typical        0.89   1.20       7
  week school year)
Drinks per occasion           2.03   2.30      16
  (typical day school year)
Highest number of             3.39   3.83      16
  drinks (last month)

N = 572.