Smoking and Drinking Among College Students: “It’s a Package Deal”, Article Critique Example

Smoking and drinking among college students:”It’s a package deal.” By Nichter, M., Nichter, M., Carkoglu, A., & Lloyd-Richardson, E. (2009), in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.

College life often comes with vices such as substance abuse on college students. Substances in the context of this article can include not only drugs, but cigarettes and alcohol as well. The authors of this article focus on specific interests associated with this trend.

Statement of the Problem

The focus of the qualitative research in this article is examining the prevalence of smoking and drinking habits among college students, and why they cater to these habits. The article also focuses on the tendency for these smoking and drinking habits to co-occur. The article states research shows that tobacco use and alcohol consumption are closely related behaviors among college students, and it is also reported that an increase in the use of one of these substances can cause an increase in the use of the other.

Review of the Literature

Additionally, another observation, related to this issue, is most college students who drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes do so mainly in social situations, as compared to their non-college counterparts who do it more frequently. It is reported that college-age youth who do not attend college are more likely to smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol more regularly. However, the rates of substance use among those who do attend college are still significant. National study results conclude that nearly 30 percent of college students in the U.S. report engaging in smoking in the last 30 days. Additionally, the same report shows approximately 50 percent of students who attend college report drinking alcohol heavily in the past year.

As shown, drinking is more prevalent among college students than smoking and this raises concerns as to why. Oftentimes, students in college are bogged down with heavy class loads while trying to juggle their personal lives, jobs, and other problems that may arise. This results in them looking for ways to cope with all of the stress in their lives. In addition, it can also be stressful to deal with college peer pressure, so drinking can sometimes help them cope with it. This coping strategy is different between males and females because they have different reasons for engaging in substance use behavior. Men often drink to look manly and women will often do it to fit in with their girls groups. Moreover, both males and females report engaging in substance use to feel comfortable around others who are doing it such as when at a party.

The authors report on the research methods used to obtain the qualitative data for the study which was conducted at a mid-Western university. The qualitative data was collected from the study participants via weekly online questionnaires. Qualitative interviews and focus groups were also used. Total participation equaled 912 students, 46 percent female and 54 percent male, with an average age of 18. It is reported that 86 percent of the sample showed a high correlation between smoking and drinking, and the results of the sample was used for the qualitative portion of the study. The qualitative portion assessed further details such as why they engaged in substance use.

Results and Conclusions

The authors of this article report results of the study show college students engaged in alcohol use because they felt it was socially acceptable, particularly when done in conjunction with smoking cigarettes. The study results also show mean drinking levels, among college students, are significantly higher on the weekends, because the weekends are associated with the time when parties on going on. Additionally, party time on the weekends is reported, by the students, to be a time to relax and de-stress. This is a way to cope.

In addition, this type of coping mechanism is particularly used by college freshman, according to the article. This is due to the fact that freshman have added stressors associated with being integrated into a new “social environment where they have the opportunity to explore their identity through various presentations of self” (M., Carkoglu, A., & Lloyd-Richardson, E., 2009, p. 4). This basically means college freshmen are pressured to show who they are and what they are about and conforming to substance use norms is often a result.

In conclusion, the authors point out that more research is needed to determine generalizations of smoking and drinking patterns among college students. As stated, research study results show that while college students smoke less than their non-college peers, they drink more heavily. Perhaps this is because college students may have more pressures to drink.

Additionally, the research points out that the study only followed students in their freshman year, so further research is needed to obtain qualitative data results in subsequent years, with particular attention paid to their changing environments through those years. It is also noted that the study was limited by the lack of racial, ethnic and cultural diversity, which means more research is needed to include a more diverse sample in future studies on this subject.

Reference

Nichter, M., Nichter, M., Carkoglu, A., & Lloyd-Richardson, E. (2009). Smoking and drinking among college students: It’s a package deal. Drug and Alcohol Dependence.