Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-2020

Abstract

Upon entering college, students around the United States are exposed to alcohol and the potentially dangerous experiences and ef­fects that come with consuming alcohol. Whether the individual is a general col­lege student or a college student-athlete, the issues are prevalent. According to the 2014 United States Census, there are ap­proximately 23 million students attending U.S. colleges. According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), there are 460,000 student-athletes across the United States (NCAA, 2017). When National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) student-athletes are in­cluded, the overall number then surpasses 500,000. A student-athlete (SA) can be defined as an individual who is enrolled in college classes and also participating in a varsity athletic program on a collegiate level. Therefore, SAs comprise approxi­mately 2 percent of the general student population. Taking into consideration this segment of the student populace (partic­ipants in university-sanctioned athletics), the differences shown between this group and the general student community in regard to consumption of alcohol are significant. Gordner (2014) found that 90% of college students who classified as a SA reported drinking alcohol; that is 8 percentage points higher than the rate for the overall student population. Extensive research has been com­pleted on the topic of collegiate SA and alcohol consumption, and researchers have concluded that college SAs consume a disproportionate amount of alcohol in comparison with their non-athlete peers.

Publication Title

Journal of Amateur Sport

Volume

6

Issue

2

First Page

84

Last Page

106

DOI of Published Version

10.17161/jas.v6i2.10570

Publisher

University of Kansas

Rights

Copyright © 2020 the Author(s)

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