Work Hard, Party Hard: Examining High Risk, High Achieving Students

1. Work Hard, Party Hard: Examining High Risk, High Achieving Students Krista Bailey Murphy

2. Why is this research important? • Brief review of relevant literature • Methods • Results • Discussion • Questions Overview

3. Importance of degree persistence & attainment • High levels of injury/death during a period of peak health • Merge quantitative and qualitative data to better understand the full picture of risk taking amongst college students • Educate college administrators about best practices • Best allocate resources Why is this research important?

4. Literature Review

5. “That awkward period between sexual maturation and the attainment of adult roles and responsibilities” (Dahl, 2004, p. 9) • Psychosocial moratorium (Erickson, 1968) • Changes in industrial world led to longer period of adolescence (Arnett 2000; Erickson, 1968) They are “just” adolescents!

6. Risk taking falls within the larger context of decision-making • While decision-making implies the choice between multiple known alternatives, risk taking applies to a situation in which the consequences are unknown or ambiguous (Clifford, 1991). Decision-Making

7. Attempts to answer why risk taking increases between childhood and adolescence • Adolescents are NOT: • Irrational or deficient in information processing • More likely to believe they are invulnerable • Less risk averse than adults • So what ARE they? • Socio-emotional network vs. cognitive control network • During states of emotional arousal or when with peers Social Neuroscience Perspective(Steinberg, 2008)

8. Indices of Psychosocial Maturity

9. Risk perception (Benthin et al., 1993) • Sensation seeking (Zukerman et al., 1978) • Impulsivity (Patton et al., 1995) • Resistance to peer influence (Steinberg & Monahan, 2007) • Future orientation (Steinberg et al., 2009b) Psychosocial Maturity

10. Writing an editorial Raising hand in class Disordered Eating Reckless Driving Alcohol Use Hooking Up Drug Use Trying out for the play Running for SGA Gambling Fighting How does risk taking manifest itself on a college campus?

11. A large, national quantitative data set will provide statistically significant evidence that students who drink more (frequency and quantity) have lower overall GPAs, experience more negative consequences as a result of their drinking and experience more impediments to academic success • Students who live on campus, are member of Greek fraternities and sororities and/or are varsity athletes will have higher levels of binge drinking than their peers • Students who drink more (frequency and quantity) engage in other risky behaviors (unprotected sex, NMPD use, etc.) at higher rates than their peers Hypotheses

12. Student-driven perspective on risk taking and academic achievement • Give voice to students Qualitative Goals

13. Methods

14. Risk Taking, Academic Performance and College Students Qualitative Quantitative Screener & Interviews Analysis of ACHA-NCHA II Data Holistic Picture

15. American College Health Association - National College Health Assessment II (ACHA-NCHA II) • Spring 2009 & Fall 2009 data sets • 121,313 respondents • 65 questions; approximately 30 minutes to complete • Student health profile - Alcohol, seatbelt use, mental health, risk tempering behaviors, tobacco use, birth control, exercise, illnesses • Demographic questions - Age, gender, year in school, residency, Greek affiliation, varsity athletics • Reliable and valid Quantitative Data Set

16. Reverse coded GPA • Combined several responses to “No Impact” and “Impact” variables Data Computations

17. Screening Questionnaire Eliminated all screeners below 3.5 GPA Contacted potential interviewees Interview Process Conducted Interviews

18. Screening Questionnaire • In the last 30 days, on how many days did you use alcohol, marijuana, other drugs (including prescription drugs that were not prescribed to you)? Please check the appropriate response: • Never Used • Have used, but not in last 30 days • 1-2 days • 3-5 days • 6-9 days • 10-19 days • 20-29 days • Used Daily • Over the last two weeks, how many times have you had five or more alcoholic drinks at one sitting? Please check the appropriate response • Never • 1 time • 2 times • 3 times • 4 times • 5 times • 6 times • 7 times • 8 times • 9 times • 10 or more times

19. Screening Questionnaire Eliminated all screeners below 3.5 GPA & sorted by risk level Contacted potential interviewees Interview Process Conducted Interviews

20. Divide screeners into low and high risk

21. Screening Questionnaire Eliminated all screeners below 3.5 GPA & sorted by risk level Contacted potential interviewees Interview Process Conducted Interviews

22. Paired screening questionnaires with consent forms • Random selection process • Contacted interviewees via email • 100% response rate Contact potential interviewees

23. Low Risk vs. High Risk Groups

24. Screening Questionnaire Eliminated all screeners below 3.5 GPA & sorted by risk level Contacted potential interviewees Interview Process Conducted Interviews

25. Full meeting took between 45-60 minutes; interviews took between 25-45 minutes • Interviews with high risk students took longer • All interviewees answered all questions • Recorded using GarageBand and turned into MP3 files for transcription • $20 Bookstore gift card Conduct Interviews

26. Interview Questions 1. Tell me about the last time you partied or socialized. 2. What does it feel like to be drunk? 3. What are the rewards of being drunk? 4. Tell me about a typical night out and tell me about an extreme night out. 5. Do you play drinking games? If so, which ones and why? 6. Have you ever driven under the influence or ridden in a car with someone you knew was intoxicated? 7. How many drinks does it typically take for you to feel drunk? 8. What is meant by a standard drink (for calculating your blood alcohol content)? 9. What is appealing about taking risks? 10. What is appealing about drinking? 11. Have you had oral, vaginal or anal intercourse? If so, please tell me about the circumstances the last time this happened. If not, please tell me why you have chosen to abstain. 12. If you have had oral, vaginal or anal intercourse, have you used protection? 13. Please define academic achievement. What you do you think it means to be academically successful? 14. Please define risk taking. 15. Do you see any relationship between your risk taking and your academic goals? 16. What is the difference between something that is risky and something that is not risky? 17. Do you think your risk taking will change as you get older? 18. Do you think that risk taking is always “bad?” Can you provide an example of a risk you took that had a positive outcome? 19. I want you to think about a situation. In one situation, a group of friends decide to skip classes to go down the shore. In the other situation, a group of friends go down the shore on Saturday. Are the friends likely to feel closer in one situation than the other? Why or why not? 20. Can you tell me about a time when risk taking interfered with your school work? This could include (but doesn’t have to be) missing a class, missing a deadline, not achieving your goals. 21. Do you have anything you want to add that we have not talked about?

27. All interviews transcribed for analysis • Creation of six (6) distinct categories • Coding and agreement with two colleagues • Led to the combination of two categories and the creation of a new category Transcription & Analysis

28. Results

29. Quantitative Analysis

30. Demographic Variables – All Undergraduate Students

31. Demographic Variables – First-Year Spring 2009 Cohort

32. Everything is significant!

33. Alcohol Use - Frequency

34. Housing Status & Number of Drinks

35. Risky Behaviors and GPA

36. Risky Behaviors and GPA

37. Alcohol as an Impediment to Academic Performance

38. Impact on Academic Performance

39. Impact on Academic Performance

40. Information Received vs. Desired

41. 61.6% Information Received vs. Desired

42. Information Received vs. Desired

43. Qualitative Analysis

44. Low risk students • Risk taking is something out of your comfort zone that you usually decide to do without thinking about the potential consequences, which could be positive or negative to both you and the people around you • High risk students • Risk taking is dangerous behavior that could cause you trouble, harm or impact you negatively but you do it anyway Defining and Conceptualizing Risk Taking

45. Low risk students • Risk taking is something out of your comfort zone that you usually decide to do without thinking about the potential consequences, which could be positive or negative to both you and the people around you • High risk students • Risk taking is dangerous behavior that could cause you trouble, harm or impact you negatively but you do it anyway Defining and Conceptualizing Risk Taking

46. Risk taking is doing something different or new that could cause you trouble or harm, but which also has the potential for a positive outcome Student Definition of Risk Taking

47. Risk now versus high school “Way more risks. Because, you’re not under the supervision of your parents here so you can kind of just do whatever you want and I mean, not to say that, I mean, when I was in high school I did stupid things. But here it’s just so much easier because it’s like a playground for making bad decisions basically. (laughter). Go college! Woo!” –Alison, high risk Decision-Making

48. Risk now versus 30 “Because that’s the time to be mature, start thinking about the bigger picture. I think the time between high school and real life is the time you can have to kind of find yourself and kind of do what you need to do, take risks.” –David, high risk Decision-Making

49. Knowledge does not equal action Decision-Making

50. Alcohol use • Badge of honor • Drug use • Primarily marijuana & Adderall • Hooking up and sex • Two kinds of protection Painting a Picture of Individual Risk Taking