1 Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
2 Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
Health Educ Behav. 2019 Apr;46(2):267-274. doi: 10.1177/1090198118818238. Epub 2019 Jan 10.
Understanding the factors that make college students more likely to drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes is key to developing effective interventions in order to reduce these behaviors. This study sought to understand entering college students' intentions to engage in smoking and drinking behavior by examining the cognitive accessibility (ease of retrieval from memory) of attitudes and norms for drinking. A sample of 413 first-year college students living in on-campus residence halls participated in the study in the first 2 weeks of their first semester of college. Reaction time measures of attitudes and norms assessed the cognitive accessibility of these constructs. Hierarchical linear regression analysis was conducted. Results indicated that the cognitive accessibility of both attitudes and peer injunctive norms predicted behavioral intentions to drink and smoke. Our findings indicate that when injunctive peer norms are accessible from memory, they are better predictors of drinking and smoking intentions than descriptive norms or injunctive family norms. Our work provides important guidance for interventions to reduce risky behavior in college students and suggests that emphasizing social costs of these behaviors may be a promising strategy.
了解使大学生更倾向于饮酒和吸烟的因素是制定有效干预措施的关键，以便减少这些行为。本研究旨在通过考察对饮酒的态度和规范的认知可及性（从记忆中检索的容易程度），来理解刚进入大学的学生参与吸烟和饮酒行为的意图。研究中，对 413 名住在校内宿舍的一年级大学生进行了调查，他们在大学第一学期的前两周参加了研究。对态度和规范的反应时间测量评估了这些结构的认知可及性。进行了分层线性回归分析。结果表明，态度和同伴规范的认知可及性均预测了饮酒和吸烟的行为意图。我们的研究结果表明，当来自记忆的同伴规范可及时，它们是饮酒和吸烟意图的更好预测因素，而不是描述性规范或规范性家庭规范。我们的工作为减少大学生危险行为的干预措施提供了重要指导，并表明强调这些行为的社会成本可能是一种有前途的策略。
