Project Summary
The purpose of this R15 application is to characterize the broader environmental and social context in
which the experience of victimization leads 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% reporting heavy alcohol use. Alcohol use has
been associated with violent victimization, bullying, and discrimination, all of which are contextual social
exposures. However, most studies have used study designs and methods that are more vulnerable to bias and
few have examined the specific environment or “activity space” in which alcohol use occurs. Since it is likely
that the association between the contextual environmental and social exposures and high-risk alcohol drinking
varies within certain demographic groups, we will assess whether these relationships differ by gender and by
race/ethnicity. Analyses will be performed to better understand the causal pathways between contextual
environmental and social predictors and high-risk alcohol use among college students, more specifically
mediation by psychosocial factors. To address previous gaps in knowledge the proposed study will use a
social-ecological approach that uses innovative methods to collect more accurate temporal and spatial
contextual information combined with existing and novel 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., violent
victimization, bullying, and discrimination) and high-risk alcohol drinking among college students; and 3)
Assess moderation by gender and race/ethnicity 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 and will help elucidate differences
by gender and race/ethnicity. This new knowledge will provide information needed to develop appropriate and
effective interventions aimed at reducing high-risk alcohol drinking among college students.
