Academics and Alcohol Consumption: A Study of College Students

Abstract

Alcohol consumption is a large part of the social lives of many university students. Prior research examining the relationship between alcohol use and academic performance of students has been inconclusive. This study explored the relationship between attitudes toward academics and alcohol using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), with a sample of 606 University of Wisconsin Oshkosh students. The results indicated that student attitudes toward academics do not provide a strong control on student alcohol consumption. However, parents’ attitudes toward drinking exert an influence on drinking behavior as does the drinking behavior of peers.