The Effects of Alcohol Consumption on College Students GPA

Anthony MascarelloPUBHBIO 2210, 12/9/2015

Introduction:

For many years, GPA or grade point average has been implemented in schooling

systems to assess ones academic performance through their college career. Some might say

that ones grade point average reflects hard work, intelligence and organization. That might

be true for some people, but many would also agree there are other factors that play a role

in achieving a certain grade point average. I was very interested in the possible effects that

alcohol consumption had on a college students’ grade point average, since alcohol is such a

routine and advertised norm on most campuses around the nation, including The Ohio

State University. In fact, Patricia and Gary Holloway, of Villanova University, state that 80%

of college students consume alcohol. (Holloway) My interests in this association grew as I

reflected on my grade point average and alcohol consumption levels. I drink frequently and

in good amounts, and still obtain a cumulative GPA of 3.398, which is above the national

average 3.11. (Newlon) My curiosity to see if others weren’t affected by alcohol

consumption led me to doing my research question on the effects of alcohol consumption

on grade point average. Before the project I had a feeling that there was not going to be a

significant association, because I believed many students like me, could maintain above a

3.1 while still consuming alcohol frequently.

Survey Methods:

The data that was used to analyze and perform statistic tests were collected through

an online survey (Appendix 1) conducted through the survey-based site Qualtrics. The

survey was delivered to college students through class emails (primarily OSU students),

social media via Facebook and by word of mouth, by me and my project partner Samantha

Dustman. Although our targeted population was college students as a whole, our sample

could have more than well been made up of mostly OSU students from the Public Health

field. This is mainly because most of our survey advertising was distributed though class

emails, and since the majority of our classes were public health courses; there could very

well be a high percentage of Public Health students who submitted the survey.

The survey included two demographic questions specifying the respondent’s gender

and ethnicity. We did not ask the respondents what age they were to protect them from any

illegal information given, hence alcohol consumption for a minor. Along with the

demographic questions respondents were asked questions relating to consumption of

alcohol. These questions included how frequent the respondent consumed alcohol; the

number of drinks they consumed per setting, and how strongly they agreed or disagreed

that alcohol consumption has a negative impact on ones grade point average. These

questions were based off of my research question, the remaining survey questions applied

to my partner’s research question pertaining to diet and exercise. Our survey questions

were arranged to be easy and understandable to all respondents, and so we primarily used

closed ended multiple-choice questions or likert-type (scaled) questions. This made

analyzing the data much easier, with open-ended questions being harder to code and

analyze, as well as the possibility of many typing errors. For the question on how many

alcoholic drinks one consumes per setting we asked a close-ended multiple-choice

question. The respondent was given five different answers to choose from, and could only

choose one answer. The answers were listed as don’t drink, one drink, two-three drinks,

four-five drinks and more than five drinks. This made it easier for the respondent to

answer, us to code and gave all possible answers pertaining to the question.

Statistical Methods:

All summary statistics, which includes percentages/proportions, means and

deviations, were used to explain the respondents as a sample. The chi-square analyses

were used to test for associations between variables. All of our statistical analyses were

operated through the computer program JMP 11.

Results:

The sample consisted of 107 participants, with 106 participants responding to the

questions and only 1 who did not complete any of the answers. The respondent who did

not answer any of the questions was removed from the sample since that person’s data

couldn’t be recorded and applied to the research project. There were a total of 76 female

respondents making up 72% of the sample and 29 males respondents representing 27%,

and one individual who recognized them as other. The majority of the sample was white,

representing 84% of all the respondents. The second highest percent of respondents based

on race was multiracial, which made up 6% of the sample. Multiracial races included

White/African American, White/Asian or Pacific Islander, White/Native American and one

respondent who identified as White/African American/Native American. Followed by

Black or African American (4%), Asian or Pacific Islander at 3%, and Latino and Native

American (2% and 1% respectively), and one individual recognizing them as other.

(Table 1)

One of the most important and overarching questions of the research project was

how strongly one agrees or disagrees that alcohol consumption has a negative impact on

GPA. The question was a scaled likert-type question with five different answers. The

answers were scaled from strongly disagree, disagree, neither disagree nor agree, agree

and strongly agree in that coordinated order. This gave me an idea on whether college

students actually viewed alcohol as a negative factor of their GPA or not. Of the 106

respondents, 50 agreed to the statement. This made up 47.16% of the sample and was the

highest proportion of the questions. 29 of the respondents (27.36%) answered that they

neither agreed or disagreed with the statement. 13 respondents (12.26%) said they

strongly agreed that alcohol consumption has a negative impact on GPA, and the remaining

13.31% said they strongly disagreed (3.88%) or disagreed (9.43%), (Table 2). This

concluded that the majority of college students sampled were in agreement that alcohol has

a negative impact on ones GPA.

Respondents were also asked about their alcohol consumption rate. Originally there

were seven answers to choose from, but in order to further carry out statistical analyses we

had to group certain variables together in order to perform the test. We also conjoined GPA

into two groups (3.50 and under) and (3.51 – 4.0). Unfortunately along with the

respondent that excluded for not answering any questions, another respondent left the

questions pertaining to alcohol blank as well, so only 105 respondents were analyzed. Of all

respondents 33 (31.43%) said they drank multiple times a week, and another 33 (31.43%)

respondents said they drank once per week. These were the highest percentages of the

sample. Of the 33 respondents who said they drank multiple times a week, 63.64% had a

GPA of 3.5 and under. The other 36.36% had a GPA of 3.51-4.0. Of the 33 respondents who

said they drank once per week, 63.64% had a GPA of 3.5 and under while the remaining

36.36% had a 3.51-4.0. Only 19 respondents said they drank never to once a month and of

these 19, 36,84% had a GPA of 3.5 and under while 63.13% had a GPA of 3.51-4.0. A chi-

square test was conducted to see if there was significant association between ones alcohol

consumption rate and GPA. The chi-square analysis showed no significant association

between alcohol consumption rate and GPA. (P-value = 0.2241) (Figure 1)

Respondents were also asked about how many drinks they consumed per setting.

Again only 105 respondents were analyzed in the hypothesis test because of the blank

space left by two of the respondents. Due to testing problems we also had to join the

original 5 answer options to 3 in order to get enough data to perform the test properly.

More than half the respondents (56.2%) said they consumed 2-5 drinks per setting. Of this

56.2%, 34 respondents (57.63%) had a GPA of 3.5 and under while the other 25

respondents (42.37%) maintained a GPA of 3.51-4.0. Only 17 respondents said they drank

more than 5 drinks per setting. Of these respondents 52.94% had a GPA of 3.5 and under

while 47.06% had a GPA of 3.51 – 4.0. We performed another chi-square analysis to test

whether there was an association between how many drinks one consumes per setting and

GPA. The analysis showed no significant association between drinks per setting and ones

GPA. (P-value = 0.9259) (Figure 2) The resulting analyses suggest that there is no

association between alcohol consumption and GPA pertaining to college students.

Discussion:

Although there was no significant association found in any of the analyses, much can

be taken from the research project. A number of people would think that alcohol would

play an important role in affecting college student’s grades, we saw this in the sample as

59% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed to believe alcohol had a negative impact on

GPA. When I think of alcohol in a college setting, I think of drunken students not being able

to make it to early classes and losing focus on academics while focusing their time on social

drinking and partying. So this insignificant association actually brought significant

understanding to me. As I first hypothesized, I thought there wasn’t going to be significant

association. Now this sample definitely does not represent the college nation as whole, but

made me realize that maybe alcohol doesn’t really impact GPA all that much. As we saw in

the analyses there weren’t many major differences in GPAs from 3.5 and under and 3.51-

4.0 pertaining to alcohol consumption. Maybe students these days are prioritizing time

better, or are becoming more tolerant through their beginning years of drinking. No one

knows the answer for sure, but through our sample we see no impact on what many I think

would believe to be prevalent. Further evidence and research could change the way we

view alcohol, and could further create more lenient laws and policies regarding alcohol on

campuses around the nation.

There were many limitations that could have very well affected the study and

results. Males were extremely underrepresented in the sample only making up 27% of the

respondents. Also, many of the respondents were believed to belong to The Ohio State

University, specifically in the college of Public Health, which does not represent the college

nation accurately. And no questions were asked referring to respondent’s grade level, so

underclassman could possible skew the data on GPA. This is because they would have less

time have a lower GPA, especially ones that were in their first semester since they would

start out with a 4.0.

If the study were to be repeated again there would be many changes and utilization

of more specific questions. First we would change the GPA variable from categorical to

continuous, to see a more accurate representation of GPA, instead of just two broad

categories. We would also include questions referring to what specific college the

respondents were attending, as well as their major and grade level. This would give a little

more detail and background of the respondent, and could possible show associations

between alcohol consumption and what school or major they were in. A grade level

question would give further understanding of GPA, since underclassman are more likely to

have a higher GPA because of the less amount of classes they have taken. Certain majors

could possible show differences, since specific majors and colleges ask of higher GPAs, so

maybe those students wouldn’t drink as frequently or are more academically gifted so they

could sacrifice time to drinking.

Since people are affected by alcohol consumption if many different ways, and many

people have different reasons to drink, more specific questions on the individual’s health

and body may be beneficial to further research. Researching on body weight, height and

previous health conditions would give more in depth results. Other research could look at

the actual percentage of alcohol the individual drinks. It would be quite hard for

respondents to know those answers but would still be interesting. Maybe even certain

types of alcohol affect certain people as well. There are countless questions to test

associated with alcohol consumption on GPA, and the more research that is conducted

could further prove to find significance between the two variables.

Works Cited:

Holloway, Patricia B., and Gary M. Holloway. "Alcohol Use in College." Alcohol

Use in College. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.

Newlon, Cara. "College Grade Inflation: Does 'A' Stand for 'average'?" USA

Today. N.p., 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2015.

Tables and Figures:

Table 1: Demographics of respondents from Qualtrics survey referring to the effects of alcohol consumption on college students GPA

DemographicsNumber of respondents                106Female Sex, No. (%)                       76 (72%)Male Sex, No. (%)                           29 (27%)Other, No. (%)                                1 (0.9%)Race, No. (%)        White                                   89 (84%)        Latino                                  2 (2%)        Black or African American 4 (4%)        Native American                 1 (0.9%)        Asian/Pacific Islander       3 (3%)        Other                                   1 (0.9%)        Multiracial                           6 (6%)____________________________________________________No. = Number of Respondents

Table 2: Respondents answers to what level of agreement they have with the statement that alcohol consumption has a negative impact on GPA

How much one agrees or disagrees that alcohol negatively impacts GPANumber of Respondents 106

Strongly Agrees, No. (%) 13 (12.26%)Agrees, No. (%) 50 (47.16%Neither Agrees or Disagrees, No. (%) 29 (27.36%)Disagrees, No. (%) 10 (9.43%)Strongly Disagree, No. (%) 4 (3.88%)

____________________________________________________________No. = Number of Respondents

Figure 1: Mosaic plot of association between respondent’s frequencies of alcohol consumption versus his or her GPA. No significant association was found between the two variables.

GPA

Frequency of consuming alcohol

Figure 2: Mosaic plot of association between respondent’s amounts of consumed alcoholic drinks per setting versus his or her GPA. No significant association was found between the two variables.

GPA

Drinkers per setting

Appendix 1:

Q1: What gender do you identify with?

( ) Male( ) Female( ) Other

Q2: Check all races you identify with.

( ) White( ) Latino( ) Black or African American( ) Native American or American Indian( ) Asian/ Pacific Islander( ) Other

Q3: What is your cumulative GPA?

( ) 3.51-4.00( ) 3.01-3.50( ) 2.51-3.00( ) 2.01-2.50( ) 1.51-2.00( ) 0.00-1.50

Q4: On average how many hours of sleep do you get each night?

______________________________________________________________

Q5: How would you rate the following statements regarding sleep?

You feel as if you receive an adequate amount of sleep to perform daily tasks (circle one)

Never Rarely Sometimes Often All the time

You maintain a normal sleep schedule (circle one)

Never Rarely Sometimes Often All the time

Q6: How often do you exercise?

( ) Daily( ) 5-6 times a week( ) 3-4 times a week( ) 1-3 times a week( ) Once a week( ) A couple times a month( ) Never

Q7: What is your most common form of exercise?

( ) Lift weights( ) Cardio (Any exercise that aims to elevate heart rates)( ) Home workout videos( ) Team sports( ) Group fitness classes( ) I do not exercise regularly( ) Other (please specify)__________________________________

Q8: Do you believe there is a positive a positive correlation between exercising regularly and maintaining a higher GPA?

( ) Yes( ) No( ) I don’t know

Q9: How many times do you eat a balanced meal per day?

( ) More than 4 meals ( ) 3-4 meals ( ) 2-3 meals( ) 1 meal per day( ) Never a full meal per day

Q10: How often do you eat a meal before class?

( ) Always( ) Most days( ) Not that often( ) Never

Q11: How would you rate the following statement regarding your diet?

How healthy do you believe you diet is from 1-5?

Very unhealthy =1 Very Healthy =5 (circle one)

1 2 3 4 5

Q12: How would you rate the following statement regarding nutrition?

You feel as if you get the right amount of nutrition your body needs (circle one)

Never Rarely Sometimes Often All the time

Q13: On average, at what time do you eat your last meal of the day?

( ) Before 5 PM( ) Between 5 PM and 7 PM( ) Between 7 PM and 9 PM( ) Between 9 PM and 11 PM( ) After 11 PM

Q14: How often do you consume alcohol?

( ) Never( ) Less than once a month( ) Once a month( ) 2-3 times a month( ) Once a week( ) Multiple times a week( ) Daily

Q15: On average, How many alcoholic drinks do you consume per setting?

( ) Don’t drink( ) 1 drink( ) 2-3 drinks( ) 4-5 drinks( ) More than 5 drinks

Q16: Do you believe a positive correlation between consuming a health diet and maintaining a higher GPA exists?

( ) Yes( ) No( ) Don’t know

Q17: How would you rate the following statement regarding alcohol and GPA?

You believe alcohol can have a negative impact on GPA (circle one)

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree or Disagree Agree Strongly Agree