Alcohol and marijuana use, consequences, and perceived descriptive norms: Differences between two- and four-year college students

Abstract

Objective: Among two-year college students, alcohol and marijuana use, related consequences, and risk factors for use are not well understood. We examined differences between two- and four-year students in alcohol and marijuana use, consequences, and perceived descriptive norms, and explored whether two-year status moderated associations between norms and use. Participants: Data were drawn from a cross-sectional subsample of two- and four-year students aged 18–23 (n = 517) participating in a longitudinal study on alcohol use. Results: Four-year students reported greater alcohol use and consequences than two-year students; two-year students reported greater marijuana use than four-year students. Perceived alcohol and marijuana norms were positively related with use; two-year status did not moderate these associations. Conclusions: Perceived alcohol and marijuana norms function similarly for two- and four-year students in terms of associations to actual use. Adapting normative interventions for two-year students may be an effective strategy for reducing high-risk use among this underserved population.

Keywords:

• Alcohol
• community college students
• marijuana
• perceived norms

Conflict of interest disclosure

The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the author(s) and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIAAA or the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Washington.

Additional information

Funding

Data collection and manuscript preparation were supported by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) Grant R01AA022087 awarded to C. M. Lee. Manuscript preparation was also supported by NIAAA Grants F32AA025263 (PI: Duckworth), R01AA027496 (PI: Lee), and T32AA007455 (PI: Larimer).