A Multilevel Investigation of Individual and Residence Risk Factors on Student Drinking

Living on-campus is a risk factor for heavy drinking and alcohol-related harm. However, there is considerable variability in drinking rates and harm across students and across living units on campuses. Multilevel models were used to investigate the independent and cross-level interactive effects of individual characteristics (personality, motives, perceived norms) and residence characteristics (social density, room type, gender distribution, number of Residence Assistants) as predictors of student alcohol outcomes. Participants were first-year students (N = 651; 71% girls) living in one of five on-campus housing units at an Eastern Canadian University. Level-1 predictors of impulsivity, sensation seeking, perceived norms, enhancement motives, and social motives were positively associated with heavy episodic drinking (HED) and alcohol-related harm. Coping and conformity motives were also associated with more alcohol-related harm. Residence characteristics did not directly impact drinking outcomes but significant cross-level interactions between social density and impulsivity and social density and sensation seeking were observed for HED and harms. Simple slope analysis of the significant interactions revealed that students with high/average impulsivity and students with low/average sensation-seeking tended to report more HED and harms when living in residences with higher social density. Findings suggest that social density of residences may pose risk for students with disinhibited personality traits. Selective personality-targeted prevention programs may help minimize this risk by giving these students the skills to manage their personality vulnerability when presented with high-risk contexts. Further, lower social density living environments may reduce social pressures to engage in high-risk behaviors among impulsive students