| Study objective: To
examine associations between social capital and
individual risk for alcohol abuse and harms and
identify protective effect mechanisms.
Design: Multilevel multivariate analysis
with individual level data from a national panel
survey of drinking and a contextual measure of
social capital reflecting college mean aggregate
reports of student volunteerism. Outcomes include
heavy episodic (binge) drinking, frequent drinking,
frequent drunkenness, diagnosable alcohol abuse,
intentional drunkenness, acquisition of binge
drinking, harms, secondhand effects from others’
drinking.
Setting: United States, 119 four year
colleges.
Participants: Representative samples
of youth ages 18–24 surveyed in 1997 and
1999 using an anonymous mailed questionnaire (total
n = 27 687).
Main results: Students from colleges
with higher levels of social capital reported
reduced risks for binge drinking (adjusted OR
0.38, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.69, p = 0.002), frequent
drunkenness (adjusted OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.34 to
0.98, p = 0.04), acquisition of binge drinking
in college (adjusted OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.24 to
0.95, p = 0.03), and alcohol abuse (adjusted OR
0.55, 95% CI 0.34 to 0.91, p = 0.02) in multilevel
multivariate analyses that controlled for individual
volunteering, the measure on which social capital
was based. Higher levels of social capital protected
against multiple drinking related harms (adjusted
OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.90, p = 0.02) and secondhand
drinking effects (adjusted OR, 0.30, 95% CI 0.16
to 0.58, p = 0.0003). Significant cross level
interactions exist between fraternity/sorority
membership and social capital for measures of
risky drinking. Harm reduction primarily reflects
consumption modification.
Conclusions: Social capital exerts strong
protective effects on alcohol abuse and harm in
college including among high risk students.
|
