A second-year Master’s student, Kara Pado, successfully defended her master’s thesis titled “Perceptions of Tipping Points of Alcohol Abuse Tendencies in Undergraduate Students“.
Kara studied the importance of tipping points, specifically in how our perceptions of tipping points relate to the perceptions of alcohol use disorder. Alcohol use in undergraduate students has become increasingly prevalent, reaching levels greater than those of the general population. Kara hypothesized that (1) individuals would indicate a later tipping point when evaluating the problematic behavior in the self-condition than they will when evaluating a peer, (2) students who reported a higher level of alcohol consumption would indicate a much larger threshold for a tipping point of alcohol abuse disorder in both themselves and a peer, and (3) participants who reported that their parents that were more accepting of alcohol will identify larger tipping points in potential alcohol abuse tendencies.
Kara then collected data from college students and analyzed 354 responses. She found that while students, on average, reported earlier tipping points indicative of problematic drinking behaviors for themselves, rather than their peers, many factors including current quantity of alcohol consumption, current frequency of alcohol consumption, and parental alcohol use all played a role in determining what quantity and frequency of alcohol consumption would constitute problematic behaviors in both themselves and their peers! Very interesting!
It would be beneficial to collect more data on current alcohol consumption, the perceptions of alcohol consumption behaviors, and the individual influences that play a role in making decisions regarding alcohol consumption among undergraduate students. This additional data would allow undergraduate institutions to effectively develop preventative measures and recovery plans for students impacted by dangerous alcohol consumption behaviors.
Excellent job! Congratulations, Kara!! We look forward to your future research in this field!
FF-PTG LAB 