The Effects of Binge Drinking on Academic Performance: Considering Mediating and Moderating Effects

• In Event: Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating Barriers to Academic Performance

Abstract

Research often considers how binge drinking influences students’ health and well-being. Using longitudinal data of multi-institutions, we focused instead on the relation between binge drinking and academic performance. Moreover, we considered the extent to which academic motivation and behaviors mediate the influence of binge drinking on academic performance. Finally, we examined whether the effects of binge drinking differed by race/ethnicity.

Binge drinking continues to exert a negative influence on GPA, even after accounting for a host of precollege confounding variables. Moreover, academic motivation and engagement account for 26%-46% of the influence of binge drinking on academic performance. Finally, there is some evidence that binge drinking negatively affects academic performance for non-underrepresented minority (UM) students rather than UM students.

Authors

• Brian An, University of Iowa

• Chad Loes, Mount Mercy University

• Teniell L. Trolian, University of Iowa