Department of Behavioral Science and Community Health, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32610-0175, USA.
J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2009 Sep;70(5):776-85. doi: 10.15288/jsad.2009.70.776.
Findings from previous prospective research suggest the association between alcohol use and undergraduate academic performance is negligible. This study was designed to address weaknesses of the past research by relying on objective measures of both drinking and academic performance.
A prospective study was conducted with repeated measures of exposure to alcohol linked to institutional academic records. Alcohol data were collected in residence halls at a nonselective, midwestern, public university in the United States. A total of 659 first- and second-year undergraduate students were tracked over the course of 15-week semesters.
A statistically significant negative association with semester academic performance was found for different alcohol indicators: frequency of breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) above .08, mean BrAC, standard deviation, and maximum BrAC recorded. These associations remained statistically significant when controlled for sociodemographic variables and individual level confounders, but the effect sizes were relatively small with a contribution to explained variance of less than 1%. When additionally adjusted for residence hall building, all alcohol indicators no longer reached statistical significance (p > or = .05).
Consistent with past prospective research, the magnitude of the association between undergraduate alcohol use and academic performance is small when the effects of high school academic aptitude and performance are accounted for in multivariable analyses. This is the first study to find that living environment may have a robust effect on the academic achievement of undergraduates. Future research should examine more closely the relation between residence and academic performance and the role that alcohol use may play in creating residential environments.
先前前瞻性研究的结果表明，饮酒与大学生学业表现之间的关联可以忽略不计。本研究旨在通过依赖于饮酒和学业表现的客观测量来解决过去研究的弱点。
在美国中西部一所非选择性的公立大学的学生宿舍中，进行了一项前瞻性研究，对与机构学业记录相关的饮酒进行了重复测量。共跟踪了 659 名一年级和二年级的本科生，为期 15 周的学期。
对于不同的酒精指标，与学期学业表现呈统计学显著负相关：血液酒精浓度（BrAC）超过 0.08 的频率、平均 BrAC、标准差和记录的最大 BrAC。在校正了社会人口统计学变量和个体水平混杂因素后，这些关联仍然具有统计学意义，但效应大小相对较小，解释方差的贡献小于 1%。当进一步调整宿舍楼时，所有酒精指标不再具有统计学意义（p>0.05）。
与过去的前瞻性研究一致，当在多变量分析中考虑高中学业能力和表现的影响时，大学生饮酒与学业表现之间的关联程度较小。这是第一项发现居住环境可能对本科生学业成绩有强大影响的研究。未来的研究应更密切地研究居住环境与学业表现之间的关系，以及饮酒可能在创造居住环境中所起的作用。
