PEER INFLUENCE CONTEXTS OF ALCOHOL USE AMONG FIRST-YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS

461 Pages·2006·1.44 MB·English

ABSTRACT

Title of Dissertation: PEER INFLUENCE CONTEXTS OF ALCOHOL USE
AMONG FIRST-YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS:
INVESTIGATING THE ROLES OF RACE, ETHNICITY,
AND GENDER THROUGH MULTIGROUP
MEASURED VARIABLE STRUCTURAL EQUATION
MODELING
Kathryn Renee Baird Snyder, Doctor of Philosophy, 2006

Dissertation directed by: Professor Susan R. Komives
Counseling and Personnel Services and
Professor Gregory R. Hancock
Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation

The study purpose was to examine the contributions of peer context variables to
the explanation of alcohol use of first-year college students by racial-ethnic group and by
gender. Social norms theory and the theories of planned behavior, social identity/self-
categorization, and status/status construction contributed constructs. Construct-related
scores from sample survey responses demonstrated strong reliabilities ranging from .70
to .97.
The following constructs provided measures for the study: Normative perception,
subjective norm, affective attitude, cognitive attitude, social identity/self-categorization,
status value, perceived behavioral control, intention and alcohol use. Normative
perception and subjective norm were combined to create a single scale with stronger
reliability than either had separately. Both cognitive and affective attitude were
combined to create a single scale. Normative perception and attitude were measured the
summer prior to college and in the fall; alcohol use was measured in the fall and in the
spring. All other model variables were measured in the fall.
Survey data were collected online in three waves and were from a representative
sample (N=837) at a large state research institution with a predominantly White (65%)
undergraduate student body. Rates of self-reported past month alcohol use and heavy
episodic drinking of participants were comparable to those of similar samples in national
and in-state studies.
Applying multigroup measured variable structural equation modeling, the model
explained between 60% of the variance in spring term alcohol use for Asian Pacific
American students and 92% for African American/Black students. Data-model fit was
acceptable (NFI, CFI > .95, SRMR < .08) for all groups in both analyses. Direct,
indirect, and total effects of model variables were identified for each of five racial-ethnic
groups in the study (African American/Black, Asian Pacific American, Latino/Latina
American, White American, and Multiracial/Biracial American) and by gender for White
men and White women. Tests of invariance demonstrated where specific paths in the
model were significantly non-invariant (differed) and for which groups. Findings suggest
the importance of pre-college intervention, the risk of increased alcohol misuse for first-
year students, and the conditional effects of racial-ethnic group and gender.
PEER INFLUENCE CONTEXTS OF ALCOHOL USE AMONG FIRST-YEAR
COLLEGE STUDENTS: INVESTIGATING THE ROLES OF RACE, ETHNICITY,
AND GENDER THROUGH MULTIGROUP MEASURED VARIABLE
STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING

by

Kathryn Renee Baird Snyder

Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the
University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
2006

Advisory Committee:

Professor Susan R. Komives, Counseling and Personnel Services, Chair
Professor Gregory R. Hancock, Measurement, Statistics, and Evaluation, Co-Chair
Professor Marylu K. McEwen, Counseling and Personnel Services
Professor Barbara F. Meeker, Sociology
Professor William E. Sedlacek, Counseling and Personnel Services
©Copyright by
Kathryn Renee Baird Snyder
2006
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Completing a Ph.D. program and a dissertation is not something that happens in
isolation, even though the much of the dissertation work is isolating in some ways. There
are important people I would like to thank as I finish this work.

My experience balancing roles as a student, a mom, and a spouse was influenced
greatly by my advisor and dissertation chair, Susan Komives and William Sedlacek, my
supervisor of five years and a member of my dissertation committee. Susan supported my
progress over the years even if my most trying times. Without Susan’s patience and
guidance and her being my champion at times, I would not have completed the program.
Sed offered a supportive learning environment where I could immerse myself in the
language and work of research but was allowed to find the equilibrium between family
and work and school essential to completing the program. Without Sed’s patience and
flexibility and coaching about research, I would not have had the hands-on research
experience I needed.

I was fortunate to have a dissertation committee with both tremendous academic
credentials as well as a willingness to work together collaboratively for my learning and
success. Susan as the chair and Sed as a committee member were both important to the
process. Susan coached me in the dissertation process and writing and helped me
anticipate issues and propose and defend. Sed supported my research by allowing me to
include quite a number of items in the University New Student Census (UNSC) for which
he was Principal Investigator, allowing a pre-college view of the students in the study.
Gregory Hancock, my dissertation co-chair, generously agreed to be more involved with
the study and graciously assisted my analyses as the limits of the data began to tax the
software we were using. More importantly to my learning, I would never have attempted
a complex study using complex analyses if I had not been in Greg’s statistics classes
where his teaching style made statistics accessible for me. Barbara Meeker was retiring
from Sociology the spring she agreed to join the committee. I took two sociological
social psychology classes from her and it was in those classes that I found ways to view
peer influence and college student alcohol use that I had not seen before. Marylu
McEwen agreed to be on my committee when another committee member was having a
baby just about the time I was to defend. Her quick acceptance of the request and
willingness to jump in with both feet has made the dissertation a better product. Marylu
guided me in my early years of the program, and helped me learn about why we need to
look at the conditional effects of race, ethnicity, and gender. Karen Inkelas was involved
with the study at the proposal stage. Her perspective and experience with SEM and
college studies together were helpful in focusing the final study proposal.

There are other key people who work at the University of Maryland have helped
me succeed in this program or navigate systems and I would like to thank them as well:
Colleen Byrne, Patti Dowdell, Sharon Fries-Britt, Pat Glover, Rhyneta Gumbs, David
Henry, Pat Mielke, Debbie Pruett, Jim Rychner, Claire Ward, Tom Weible, and Kathleen
Wilcox.

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The study was supported in part by incentive prize donations from the Division of
Student Affairs at the University of Maryland, a research grant from the Mac and Lucille
McEwen Fund, and a research grant from the Southern Association of College Student
Affairs.

About a year before I finished school, I was fortunate to begin work at PIRE,
Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. I appreciate the support of Paul Marques,
Bob Voas, John Lacey, and Bob Carpenter throughout the last year. Alma Lopez at PIRE
willingly took on the challenge of formatting the tables. Ram Rider, fellow Maryland
doctoral student and PIRE researcher, was a helpful sounding board for dissertation
process challenges.

Graduate student friends at Maryland have been important to my persistence and
success. I appreciate their perspective and support: Patty Alvarez, Dan Balón, John
Dugan, Wallace Eddy, Andrea Goodwin, Laura Irwin, Jeannie Brown Leonard, Felicia
Mainella, Partamin Farzad Nawabi, Julie Owen, Joe Sherlin, and Hung-Bin Sheu.

My family and I have been fortunate to have good friends surrounding us while I
have been in school. Their love and generosity and humor and kindness have nurtured us
at some difficult times: Laura, Chris, Lauri, and Anna Irwin; Pat Noone, Dave Meng, and
Molly Noone-Meng; Leticia and Dimitrios Goulias; Jeannie Brown Leonard, Chuck,
Evan, and Kathleen Leonard; and Karla, Tom, and Faith Shepherd.

Laura Irwin and I started our academic program together and had children just
weeks apart from each other. There were many days I wondered why I was in school and
how I would keep going. Sharing the experience with another mom who understood was
so important to me. I would likely not have persisted without Laura’s friendship.

Rhett DeSaussure Baird and Rhonda Rook Baird, my parents, have shared with
me in many ways their love for family and learning and reading and discovery, all of
which taught me throughout the years to value family, to explore, to connect, to read, to
discover, and to appreciate what is unique to us each as well as what we have in common.

I was 6 weeks into my academic program when my daughter Carys was born. I
had no idea how the experience of becoming a parent would transform me, transform my
life, and transform my academic experience. Carys will be 9 when I walk across the
stage at graduation. She has been with me every step of the way and asked this summer
what I am like when I am not a student. Shortly, we will both know.

I am certain that without the support of my husband, Christopher A. Snyder, I
would not have finished this dissertation. Chris’ love, faith, patience, commitment,
perseverance, perspective, energy, and time have all made it possible for me to spend
more time with family and to still keep moving forward in school. I am thankful for his
enduring love and commitment.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LISTS OF TABLES ..........................................................................................................ix
LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................xii
LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................................xiii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .........................................................................................xiv

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................1
Current Recommendations for Research ............................................................................2
Background of the Study ....................................................................................................3
Extent and Consequences of Alcohol Use Among Students ..............................................5
The Extent of Alcohol Use Among College Students....................................................6
Consequences of Alcohol Use Among Students ............................................................7
Alcohol Use Among Subpopulations of College Students............................................ 8
Contexts of Alcohol Use Among College Students.............................................................9
Investigating NIAAA’s Recommended Campus Culture View .......................................10
Peer Influence Among College Students ..........................................................................11
“Peer Context” and Alcohol Use Among College Students ........................................12
Summary: What Are The Gaps In What We Know?....................................................14
Toward Understanding the Culture of Alcohol Use Among Students ............................16
Social Norms Theory ...................................................................................................17
The Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior........................................... 18
Social Identity Theory and Self-Categorization Theory.............................................. 20
Status Characteristics Theory and Status Construction Theory................................... 21
Summary ......................................................................................................................26
Methodological Considerations ........................................................................................28
Study Overview and Purpose............................................................................................ 29
Research Questions ...........................................................................................................32
Definition of Terms ...........................................................................................................33
Significance of the Study ..................................................................................................34

CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE................................................... 38
Overview ...........................................................................................................................38
Study Purpose ...................................................................................................................38
Theoretical Literature, Final Endogenous Measured Variable, Research
Findings, and Proposed Model .........................................................................................39
The Final Endogenous Measured Variable: Alcohol Use Behavior ............................42
Social Norms Theory: Theory, Research, Critique ......................................................45
The Theory and General Critique .........................................................................45
Social Norms Research .........................................................................................47
Foundational Studies .............................................................................................48
Preliminary Analyses on Study Campus ...............................................................55
Findings Specific to Subgroups Under Investigation ...........................................56
Critique, Unanswered Questions, and Rationale for This Investigation ...............57
Social Norms Theory Variables in the Model ......................................................58
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The Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of Planned Behavior:
Theory, Research, Critique, Rationale...................................................................59
The Theories and General Critique ................................................................60
The Theory of Reasoned Action ....................................................................61
The Theory of Planned Behavior ...................................................................65
Summary of the Theoretical Models .............................................................66
Related Research: Overview ..........................................................................67
General Research Using the Two-Theory Family .........................................68
The Theories Applied to Health Behavior .....................................................70
The Theories Applied to Alcohol Use Among College Students ..................72
Findings Specific to Subgroups Under Investigation ....................................74
Critique, Unanswered Questions, and Rationale for This Investigation .......76
The Theory of Reasoned Action/Theory of Planned Behavior
Variables in the Model ...................................................................................77
Defining the Constructs .................................................................................77
Toward A Fuller Understanding of the Peer Context of Alcohol Use
Among College Students ................................................................................................82
Social Identity Theory and Self-Categorization Theory:
A Two-Theory Family...........................................................................................83
Social Identity Theory Explained .................................................................84
Implications of Social Identity Theory ..........................................................87
Self-Categorization Theory Explained ..........................................................88
The Development of Self-Categorization Theory......................................... 89
Implications of Self-Categorization Theory ..................................................90
Overview of Key Studies Using the Two-Theory Family .............................91
The Theories Applied to Health Behaviors ...................................................91
The Theories Applied to Alcohol Use Among College Students ..................93
Links to Social Norms Theory .......................................................................94
Links to the Theory of Planned Behavior ......................................................97
Findings Specific to Subgroups Under Investigation.....................................99
Critique, Unanswered Questions and Rationale for This Investigation ......101
Construct Offered by Social Identity and Self-Categorization Theories......102
Integrating Status Characteristics and Status Construction
Theories to the Model..........................................................................................103
What Is Status and Why Is It Important?......................................................103
Status Characteristics Theory Explained......................................................104
Implications of Status Characteristics Theory .............................................107
Status Construction Theory (SCT): The Theory Explained ........................107
Status Construction Theory: Status Beliefs and
Theoretical Development .............................................................................108
Status Beliefs: What They and Why Are They Important ...........................108
Key Studies: How Do Status Beliefs Develop? .........................................109
Implications of Status Construction Theory ................................................113
General Research Using the Two-Theory Family ......................................114
Status and Alcohol Use Among College Students ......................................114

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Links to Social Norms Theory .....................................................................120
Links to Social Identity/Self-Categorization Theory ...................................121
Findings Specific to Subgroups Under Investigation...................................123
Critique and Rationale for Integrating Status Theories ...............................124
Construct Offered by Status Characteristics and
Status Construction Theories .......................................................................125
Defining the Model .........................................................................................................125
Defining the Constructs ..................................................................................................129
Summary of Model ........................................................................................................132
Variables for Subgroup Analyses ...................................................................................132

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY .......................................................................134
Purpose ............................................................................................................................134
Theoretical Summary ......................................................................................................134
Research Design ..............................................................................................................135
Research Questions Guiding the Study ...........................................................................136
Study Context ..................................................................................................................137
Sample Population ..........................................................................................................137
Instrumentation ...............................................................................................................142
Instrument One: University New Student Census 2004 ............................................143
Instruments Two and Three: Surveys for Time Two and Time Three .....................144
The Peer Influence Context: Development of Model, Variables and Measures .............145
Development of Variables and Measures ..................................................................146
Using Measures to Determine Averaged Index Scores for Variables ............................163
Variables for Subgroup Analyses ...................................................................................164
Pilot ................................................................................................................................165
Data Collection Procedures .............................................................................................166
Overview of Primary Statistical Method ........................................................................170
Data Analysis .............................................................................................................170
Missing Data ..............................................................................................................171

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS OF ANALYSES ..........................................................174
Final Sample Descriptive Statistics and Related Analyses .............................................175
Overview-Summary ....................................................................................................175
Demographics of Sample............................................................................................177
Missing Data ..............................................................................................................179
Preliminary Analyses of the Data ..............................................................................180
Scale Reliabilities ................................................................................................180
Mean Differences of Variables by Group ...........................................................181
Correlations Among Variables by Racial-Ethnic Group ....................................185
Correlations Among Variables by Gender for
White Men and White Women ..........................................................................194
The Model by Race .........................................................................................................195
Overview ....................................................................................................................195
Normality Characteristics ...........................................................................................196
Model Fit Among Racial-Ethnic Groups ..................................................................198
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Direct, Indirect, and Total Variable Effects by Racial-Ethnic Group ........................201
Standardized Effect Estimates of Model Variables for
African American/Black Students ............................................................................201
Standardized Effect Estimates of Model Variables for
Asian Pacific American Students ...............................................................................209
Standardized Effect Estimates of Model Variables for
Latino/Latina Students ...............................................................................................218
Standardized Effect Estimates of Model Variables for
White American Students .........................................................................................227
Standardized Effect Estimates of Model Variables for
Multiracial/Biracial American ..................................................................................235
Invariance of Model Paths Across Racial-Ethnic Groups .........................................244
The Model by Gender for White Students ......................................................................246
Normality of Data ......................................................................................................246
Model Fit by Gender for White American Students ..................................................247
Direct, Indirect, and Total Variable Effects by Gender for
White Men and White Women .................................................................................249
Standardized Effect Estimates of Model Variables for
White American Men Students ................................................................................. 250
Standardized Effect Estimates of Model Variables for
White American Women Students ............................................................................258
Model Invariance Between Groups for White Men and White Women ....................266
Summary of Analyses in Study .......................................................................................268

CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION ..................................................................................273
Discussion of Variable Means, Standard Deviations, and Mean Differences.................273
Alcohol Use Summer and Fall ...................................................................................274
Personal Attitude Summer and Fall ...........................................................................275
Normative Perception Summer and Fall ....................................................................275
Social Identity/Self-Categorization ............................................................................276
Status Value ...............................................................................................................276
Perceived Behavioral Control ....................................................................................277
Intention .....................................................................................................................277
Demographics of the Sample ..........................................................................................278
Comparison of Study Sample with National and State Samples ....................................279
Model Overview Findings ..............................................................................................282
Findings Related to Research Questions ....................................................................283
Research Question One: Group Difference in Variance of
Alcohol Use Explained ...............................................................................................283
Research Question Two: Difference in Effects by Group ........................................285
Racial-Ethnic Group Analysis ............................................................................286
Analysis by Gender for White Students ..............................................................309
Summary of Effects of Variables in the Model Across
Both Multigroup Analyses .................................................................................320
Research Question Three: Sources of Risk and Protection By Group...................... 333
Research Question Four: Common Sources of Risk and Protection......................... 342
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