The Relationship between Drug and Alcohol Use and Peer Group Associations of College Freshmen as They Transition from High School

Abstract

College freshmen responded to a drug and alcohol questionnaire. For drugs other than alcohol and marijuana, the best predictor of drug use at the beginning of college is drug use during a typical month of the senior year of high school. College freshmen, however, use marijuana less frequently than they did in high school and the use of alcoholic beverages increases early in college. While the frequency of alcohol use increases considerably, college freshmen do not increase the number of times they got drunk. It has been hypothesized that the likely change in peer relations between high school and college would alter subsequent rates of drug and alcohol use. However, the data shows that college and high school drug use are very similar and entering freshmen found new friends much like their high school friends to use drugs with and get drunk. Therefore, alcohol and drug use may be important determining factors in the choice of new college friends.