work hard, party hard: examining high risk, high achieving students krista bailey murphy

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

Krista Bailey Murphy

OverviewOverview

Why is this research important?Brief review of relevant literatureMethodsResultsDiscussionQuestions

Why is this research important?Why is this research important?

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

Literature ReviewLiterature Review

They are “just” adolescents!They are “just” adolescents!

“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)

Decision-MakingDecision-Making

• 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).

Social Neuroscience PerspectiveSocial Neuroscience Perspective(Steinberg, 2008)(Steinberg, 2008)

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

Construct Measure Sample Item

Risk Perception Benthin et al., 1993 “If you did this activity (e.g. had unprotected sex), how much are you are risk for something bad happening?”

Sensation seeking Zuckerman et al., 1978 “I sometimes like to do things that are a little frightening.”

Impulsivity Patton et al., 1995 “I do things without thinking.”

Resistance to peer influence Steinberg & Monahan, 2007 “Some people think it’s better to be an individual even if people will be angry at you for going against the crowd.BUTOther people think it’s better to go along with the crowd than to make people angry at you.”

Future orientation Steinberg et al., 2009b “Some people take life one day at a time without worrying about the future.BUTOther people are always thinking about what tomorrow will bring.”Indices of Psychosocial

Maturity

Psychosocial MaturityPsychosocial Maturity

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)

How does risk taking manifest itself How does risk taking manifest itself on a college campus?on a college campus?

AlcoholUse

AlcoholUse

DrugUse DrugUse

Hooking Up

Hooking Up

Reckless

Driving

Reckless

Driving

Disordered

Eating

Disordered

Eating

Raising hand in class

Raising hand in class

Trying out for the

play

Trying out for the

playRunning for SGARunning for SGA

Writing an

editorial

Writing an

editorial

Fighting

Fighting

Gambling

Gambling

HypothesesHypotheses

1.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

2.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

3.Students who drink more (frequency and quantity) engage in other risky behaviors (unprotected sex, NMPD use, etc.) at higher rates than their peers

Qualitative GoalsQualitative Goals

Student-driven perspective on risk taking and academic achievement

Give voice to students

MethodsMethods

Risk Taking, Academic

Performance and College Students

Risk Taking, Academic

Performance and College Students

QualitativeQualitative

Analysis of ACHA-NCHA

II Data

Analysis of ACHA-NCHA

II Data

Screener & InterviewsScreener & Interviews

Quantitative

Quantitative

Holistic PictureHolistic Picture

Quantitative Data SetQuantitative Data Set

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

Data ComputationsData Computations

Reverse coded GPA Combined several responses to “No

Impact” and “Impact” variables

Screening Questionnaire

Interview ProcessInterview Process

Eliminated all screeners below 3.5 GPA

Contacted potential interviewees

Conducted Interviews


1. 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:o Never Usedo Have used, but not in last 30 dayso 1-2 dayso 3-5 dayso 6-9 dayso 10-19 dayso 20-29 dayso Used Daily

2. Over the last two weeks, how many times have you had five or more alcoholic drinks at one sitting? Please check the appropriate responseo Nevero 1 timeo 2 timeso 3 timeso 4 timeso 5 timeso 6 timeso 7 timeso 8 timeso 9 timeso 10 or more times



Eliminated all screeners below 3.5 GPA & sorted by risk level



Divide screeners into low and high risk

Low Risk Group High Risk Group

Q1: Have not used alcohol, marijuana or other drugs in the last 30 days.

Q1: Have used alcohol, marijuana or other drugs in the last 30 days.

Q2: Have not consumed 5 or more drinks in one sitting in the last two weeks.

Q2: Have consumed 5 or more drinks in one sitting in the last two weeks.

Paired screening questionnaires with consent forms

Random selection processContacted interviewees via email100% response rate

Contact potential interviewees

Low Risk vs. High Risk Groups

Low Risk Group(6 eligible respondents)

High Risk Group(10 eligible respondents)

3.56 GPA(3.57 overall)

3.64 GPA(3.67 overall)

1 male4 females

2 males3 females

Full meeting took between 45-60 minutes; interviews took between 25-45 minutes

Interviews with high risk students took longerAll interviewees answered all questionsRecorded using GarageBand and turned into

MP3 files for transcription$20 Bookstore gift card

Conduct Interviews

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?

Interview Questions

All interviews transcribed for analysisCreation of six (6) distinct categoriesCoding and agreement with two colleagues

◦Led to the combination of two categories and the creation of a new category

Transcription & Analysis

ResultsResults

Quantitative Analysis

Demographic Variables – All Demographic Variables – All Undergraduate StudentsUndergraduate Students

Variable Percent N

Year in School

1st Year Undergraduate 29.5 29,737

2nd Year Undergraduate 23.2 23,109

3rd Year Undergraduate 22.8 22,702

4th Year Undergraduate 18.3 18,209

5th Year Undergraduate 6.2 6,177

Current Residence

Campus Residence Hall 41.3 41,139

Fraternity/Sorority House 1.6 1,589

Other Campus Housing 5.2 5,199

Parent/Guardian 14.3 14,253

Other Off-Campus Housing 33.0 32,901

Other 4.1 4,116

Demographic Variables – First-Year Demographic Variables – First-Year Spring 2009 CohortSpring 2009 Cohort

Variable Percent N

Current Residence

Campus Residence Hall 76.4 14,426

Fraternity Sorority House .4 76

Other Campus Housing 1.3 250

Parent/Guardian 12.6 2,384

Other Off-Campus Housing 6.7 1,260

Other 2.2 423

Approximate GPA

A 34.3 6,476

B 49.9 9,424

C 14.0 2,648

D/F 1.8 335

Everything is significant!Everything is significant!

Alcohol Use - FrequencyAlcohol Use - Frequency

Housing Status & Number of DrinksHousing Status & Number of Drinks

Risky Behaviors and GPARisky Behaviors and GPA

Variable All Undergraduates First-Year Cohort

Last 30 days: Alcohol -.025** -.098**

Last 30 days: Marijuana -.073** -.114**

Number of drinks last time partied or socialized -.078** -.128**

Last 2 weeks: 5 or more drinks of alcohol at sitting -.063** -.122**

Last 30 days: Drive after having 5 or more drinks .010** -.033**

Last 12 months: Taken unprescribed antidepressants -.024** -.037**

Last 12 months: Taken unprescribed pain killers -.066** -.081**

Last 12 months: Taken unprescribed sedatives -.030** -.048**

Last 12 months: Taken unprescribed stimulants -.044** -.061**

Last 12 months: Number of sexual partners -.059** -.104**

Used a method of birth control last time you had vaginal sex

-.074** -.061**

Alcohol as an Impediment to Alcohol as an Impediment to Academic PerformanceAcademic Performance

Impact on Academic PerformanceImpact on Academic Performance

Variable GPA

A B C D/F

Anxiety 11.05% 17.19% 24.44% 37.95%

Cold/Flu/Sore Throat 13.23% 20.21% 26.07% 33.13%

Depression 5.94% 7.54% 17.18% 32.83%

Internet Use 9.08% 15.57% 23.01% 33.33%

Sleep Difficulties 14.35% 22.60% 31.94% 47.72%

Stress 17.32% 27.23% 40.28% 56.10%

Information Received vs. DesiredInformation Received vs. Desired


61.6%

Qualitative Analysis

Defining and Conceptualizing Risk Defining and Conceptualizing Risk TakingTaking

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 Defining and Conceptualizing Risk TakingTaking

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

Student Definition of Risk TakingStudent Definition of Risk Taking

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


Risk now versus high school

“Way more risks. Because, you’re not underthe supervision of your parents here so youcan kind of just do whatever you want and Imean, not to say that, I mean, when I was inhigh school I did stupid things. But here it’sjust so much easier because it’s like a playground for making bad decisions basically. (laughter). Gocollege! Woo!”

–Alison, high risk


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


Knowledge does not equal action

Painting a Picture of Individual Risk Painting a Picture of Individual Risk TakingTaking

Alcohol use◦Badge of honor

Drug use◦Primarily marijuana & Adderall

Hooking up and sex◦Two kinds of protection

Academic AchievementAcademic Achievement

Interviews with all high achieving students Ability to prioritize & say no

Students identified procrastination as the biggest risk to their own academic achievement

Peer Perceptions and InfluencePeer Perceptions and Influence

“I’m not impacted, but my friends are”

Achieving BothAchieving Both

Family support and pressureCareer goals (future orientation construct)Perceived importance of academic and social

experience

“It can be done, you don’t have to just sit in your dorm and study all the time to be a good student I would say. I think that coming to college and actually living there, the social aspect of it is also part of the experience and part of growing up. Not that that necessarily has to involved drinking, but I think that’s an important thing in someone’s life to like go out and meet people and learn how to socialize in that way. It plays as much of a role as academia I guess.”-Jessie, high risk

Achieving BothAchieving Both

“OK, this is cool. Umm, I feel like, uh, alright, I’m gonna say this. I feel like academics are really based upon the individual skill sets as opposed to their behavior. I mean, we do know for a fact that obviously, if you are drinking 5 days out of a week than 9 times out of 10 you’re probably not going to perform better than someone who is just not, if you’re on the same academic level. But, I don’t feel like having one day or even two maybe out of that week where you sort of drink, even a little bit in excess, will directly affect the outcome of their academics. So it’s really weird, I feel like there’s a really fine line of how they’re affected by each other because, like I told you about my roommate. You can have those experiences where you just like to drink and you drink pretty often, but you still produce well academically and then you can have those situations where it doesn’t occur. So I feel like it’s a very thin line and they’re very close to each other. But I wouldn’t say one is indicative of the other, unless it’s to that big of an extreme.”

- Ryan, low risk

DiscussionDiscussion

Summary of ResultsSummary of Results

All three hypotheses were supported

1.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

2.Student 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

3.Students who drink more (frequency and quantity) engage in other risky behaviors (unprotected sex, NMPD use, etc.) at higher rates than their peers

These relationships grew stronger when just analyzing the first-year cohort

Surprising FindingsSurprising Findings

Weak strength of correlations◦Only large effect size in correlation between alcohol

consumption and negative consequences (especially number of days in last 30)

Student perceptions about impediments to academic performance◦Anxiety, cold/flu, internet use, sleep difficulties,

depression and stressWillingness of students to share their

experiences◦Genuine gratitude for being asked

Connection to Social Neuroscience PerspectiveConnection to Social Neuroscience Perspective

Ability of students to articulate what risks they took, why and how they view their risk changing over time

Articulation of socio-emotional network vs. cognitive control network

Ability to make “good decisions”

Connection to Psychosocial Connection to Psychosocial MaturityMaturity

Risk perception◦Knowledge of “stupid” risks but willingness to

take risk anyway◦Worth potential rewards

Resistance to peer influence◦All interviewees were able to provide examples

Future orientation◦Helped keep high risk behavior to a minimum

Statistical LimitationsStatistical Limitations

Large sample sizeSelection biasReliance on correlations

Implications for PractitionersImplications for Practitioners

What (if anything) will impact behavior?Importance of family/support systemsWhat do students want information about

that we are not giving them? Do any of your campuses do a good job in this area?◦Sleep, stress, anxiety, nutrition

Open & honest conversations with students◦Students are open to these conversations, but are

we asking the right questions?◦BASICS philosophy

Implications for PractitionersImplications for Practitioners

Are we focusing so much on alcohol that students think it is even more pervasive than it actually is?◦“My mom was actually talking to someone else

who has a son who goes here and he was saying how he almost regretted his decision to come here because they make it seem like that’s a major part of going to X is just drinking all the time and stuff.”

◦We’ve made a change at our own Orientation to a workshop called Healthy Choices instead of a session devoted to alcohol

Future ResearchFuture Research

Longitudinal study comparing students across their four years in college

Build qualitative research baseImpact of social media/texting on desire

for meaningful conversations

QuestionsQuestions

Contact InformationContact Information

Krista Bailey [email protected]

work hard, party hard: examining high risk, high achieving students krista bailey murphy

Documents

high risk

decisionmaking risk

b slide

picture of risk

risk averse

literature review slide

people angry

college students