Research Proposal

Research Proposal Draft

Jennifer Sinacori

Working Title: “Liquid Courage:” The Solution for College Students?

Topic: I would like to discuss why students have an interest in drinking and how this correlates to privatization. I believe students are interested in drinking because it helps to significantly reduce the amount of stress they are in. Students should be very concerned about the financial debt they are accumulating, in order to obtain a college education. I will discuss how by drinking, students are risking the chance of not doing so well with their academics. The argument may be made that the stakes are higher for students, because of all the money they are spending towards obtaining a college education and that students should be more wary of the decisions that they are making. Drinking jeopardizes their chances of doing well but at the same time offers them a way to cope with the stress. It may not be the most rational way but I’d like to discuss how students use drinking, among other things, as an irrational way of dealing with anxiety.

Research Question: Are students drawn to drinking because it helps them cope with the stress associated in attending college and is it a rational way of dealing with the effect of privatization?

Theoretical Frame: In the study of the “Daily College Student Drinking Patterns Across the First Year of College,” it was found that “college drinking follows a weekly pattern reflective of student role demands, but it is also influenced by family roles, external events, and fluctuations in academic pressures.” Medium-drinking clusters tended to spend less time on their homework and thus have lower grade point averages. Drinking patterns clearly seem to be reflective of what is going on in a student’s day to day life and not only that, it seen as something very social. People drink to simply socialize and it has essentially become a culture in itself, as described in “The Drinking Games”. It costs quite a bit of money to attend college and students are well aware of this. If you ask them how they plan on paying back the loans, most of them shrug and say that things will simply work out. They are aware of the fact that they need loans to pay for their education but many of them aren’t aware of exactly how much they are taking out. Students are led to think irrationally by assuming that they are pursuing a college degree and that this in itself is a security blanket. Regardless, students still feel the need to find a way to cope with the stress. In “Transitions in First-Year College Student Drinking Behaviors: Does Pre-College Drinking Moderate the Effects of Parent -And-Peer-Based Intervention Components”, it was found that incoming college freshman are much more likely to become heavy drinkers because they are struggling to transition from high school to college. They turn to drinking because it offers them comfort and an escape from reality. In the article, “College Drinking is Liberating, and a Good Excuse”, students drink because it gives them "liquid courage." It gives them the courage to escape reality. What’s unfortunate is that many students don’t seem to realize that they are making an irrational decision by choosing to drink away their problems. The fact that these students need to pay back the loans they took out for school should be enough to make them realize that they need to focus on their academics. It is interesting to see how students still turn to drinking, even though this affects their overall abilities in academic performance. It’s risky, more now than ever, to fail college. Privatization has certainly increased the risks by helping to increase the total student debt accumulated and they are well aware of that. I hope to explore why students are able to overlook the possible negative outcome that can be associated with drinking.

Research and Plan

In “Poor Adjustment to College Life Mediates the Relationship Between Drinking Motives and Alcohol Consequences: A look at college adjustment, drinking motives, and drinking outcomes,” there was a study done that examined the relationships between drinking motives and the resulting outcome from drinking. It was found that drinking was considered a big stress reliever for many students and that there is a need to discuss strategies for decreasing stress that will help students with adjusting to college life. Students seem to drink in order to “enhance positive outcomes or avoid negative outcomes” and it was narrowed down to three main reasons for why students turn to drinking: “enhancement (e.g., drinking to induce positive mood), social (e.g., drinking to be more outgoing), and coping (e.g., drinking to avoid negative emotions).” Students completed a Daily Drinking Questionnaire where they had to keep track of alcohol consumed and it was later examined to see how much students depend on it to as a stress reliever.

Some books I’d like to look at are Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports Has Crippled Undergraduate Education by Murray Sperber and Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses by Richard Arum. While drinking seems to serve students’ best interests, one should also consider how it serves the interests of privatization. Privatization does not focus on providing students the best education possible. School administrators are more concerned about making schools seem appealing, overall, and thus college culture is greatly appealing. Students are drawn into the “culture” and so perhaps the reason why students are able to drink so freely is because people do not care to put a stop to it. It doesn’t serve the interests of privatization to make alcohol unavailable to students. Administrators don’t seem to care about how immoral this may be because drinking can help boost a college’s reputation. Most students have a desire to attend a school where they will have that “culture” and that ability to party. Ultimately, these students are seeking the college experience so if administrators were to take that away, it would make a college much less appealing to many of them. Ideally, I’d like to piece together how students’ stress over the effects of privatization have caused them to look at drinking as a way of coping with the stress and how privatization has ultimately taken advantage of this.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arum, Richard, and Josipa Roksa. Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2011. Print.

Cleveland, Michael J.; Lanza, Stephanie T.; Ray, Anne E. "Transitions In First-Year College Student Drinking Behaviors: Does Pre-College Drinking Moderate The Effects Of Parent- And Peer-Based Intervention Components?." Psychology Of Addictive Behaviors 26.3 (n.d.): 440-450. Thomson Scientific: ISI Web of Knowledge--Web of Science. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.

Gladwell, Malcolm. "Annals of Anthropology: Drinking Games." (underlined) (The New Yorker). February 15 & 22, 2010: 70-76.

Hoeppner, Bettina B.; Barnett, Nancy E; Jackson, Kristina M.; Colby, Suzanne M.; Kahler, Christopher W.; Monti, Peter M.; Read, Jennifer; Tevyaw, Tracy; Wood, Mark; Corriveau, Donald; Fingeret, Allan. "Daily College Student Drinking Patterns Across The First Year Of College." Journal Of Studies On Alcohol & Drugs 73.4 (n.d.): 613. EBSCO: Academic Search Premier (EBSCO EIT) (XML). Web. 9 Oct. 2012.

Jayson, Sharon. "College Drinking Is Liberating, and a Good Excuse." USA Today. Gannett Company,Aug.-Sept.2011.Web.07.Oct.2012. <http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/story/health/story/2011/08/College-drinking-is-liberating-and-a-good-excuse/50080738/1>.

LaBrie, Joseph W.; Ehret, Phillip J.; Hummer, Justin F.; Prenovost, Katherine. "Poor Adjustment To College Life Mediates the Relationship Between Drinking Motives And Alcohol Consequences: A Look At College Adjustment, Drinking Motives, And Drinking Outcomes." Addictive Behaviors 37.4 (n.d.): 379. EBSCO: OmniFile Full Text Mega (H.W. Wilson) (EBSCO EIT) (XML). Web. 9 Oct. 2012.

Sperber, Murray A. Beer and Circus: How Big-Time College Sports Is Crippling Undergraduate Education. New York: H. Holt, 2000. Print.