Determining the causal pathways of social and environmental predictors of high-risk alcohol drinking among college students - The purpose of this R15 application is to characterize the broader environmental and social context leading to high-risk alcohol drinking in college populations. The proposed study will allow for a better understanding of the causal pathways between contextual environmental and social exposures and high-risk alcohol use among college students. High-risk alcohol consumption is a serious health problem among college students that leads to many physical, emotional, social, and cognitive consequences, including death. Recently, 38% of college students reported engaging in binge drinking in the last month, and 11.4% reported heavy alcohol use. Alcohol misuse has been associated with violence and bullying, which are contextual social exposures. However, most studies have used study designs and methods that are prone to methodological limitations, and few have examined the specific environment or “activity space” in which alcohol use occurs. Analyses will be performed to better understand the causal pathways between contextual environmental and social predictors and high-risk alcohol use among college students, as well as mediation by psychosocial factors. To address previous gaps in knowledge, the proposed study will use a social-ecological approach combining innovative methods to collect more accurate temporal and spatial contextual data and employ causal inference techniques. We propose the following specific aims: 1) Characterize the activity spaces of college students and examine how they are correlated with contextual environmental and social exposures, and alcohol use behaviors; 2) Examine the direct associations between (a) environmental (i.e., place-based exposures including physical disorder, crime/violence, alcohol outlets, social disorder) and (b) social contexts (i.e., violence and bullying) and high-risk alcohol drinking among college students; and 3) Assess moderation by demographics and mediation by potential psychosocial variables in the relationship between contextual (a) environmental and (b) social exposures and high-risk alcohol drinking. This research will add to the understanding of the causal pathways between contextual environmental and social predictors and high-risk alcohol drinking among college students. This new knowledge will provide information needed to develop appropriate and effective interventions aimed at reducing high-risk alcohol drinking among college students.
