A correlation study between the extent of cigarette and alcohol use among fraternity and sorority members and potential relationship to age, gender, GPA, number of college credits and participation in college athletics

Abstract

During the past decade many lines of converging data have suggested that alcohol and tobacco consumption are positively correlated. This paper will examine the degree of relationship between alcohol and tobacco use and potential relationship to age, gender, GPA, number of college credits and participation in college athletics among fraternity and sorority members. It was from the November 2000 survey administered to fraternity and sorority members of a mid-western public university that information was gathered for this research. There were two significant variables to be measured: The extent of both alcohol and tobacco usage. The subjects completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) used to measure alcohol consumption, dependence symptoms, and personal and social harm related to alcohol use. The subjects also completed the modified Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire (FTQ) to investigate nicotine dependence. Seven self-report questions to ascertain demographic data on age, gender, cumulative GPA, number of college credits and participation in college athletics were also asked. The Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was utilized to analyze data for the study. The .05 level of significance was the standard to accept or reject the hypotheses. The data showed that there was a positive correlation between the fraternity and sorority members’ consumption of alcohol and cigarettes smoked. The AUDIT score suggests an alcohol use problem for the majority of the subjects, and also indicates that fiften per cent of the fraternity and sorority members have a severe alcohol use problem. The data results also indicate a significant inverse relationship between the fraternity and sorority members reported alcohol consumption and cumulative GPA. There was no significant correlation between the fraternity and sorority members reported alcohol consumption and credits completed. There was also no significant correlation between the subjects’ age and the number of drinks they reported consuming in a week or between age of the fraternity and sorority students and amount of tobacco use. In addition, the data showed no correlation between number of alcoholic drinks consumed and athlete status for either fraternity or sorority members. However, the low number of athlete respondents would suggest extremely cautious and tentative interpretation of the results.