Partying during a pandemic: role of descriptive partying norms, residence, college alcohol beliefs, and political ideology in COVID-19 party behavior

Abstract

Objective

Non-adherence to COVID-19 guidelines is a major public health issue. This study explored factors that explain college student party behavior (PB; defined as attending a college party wherein COVID-19 guidelines, including masks and social distancing were ignored) during the pandemic.

Method

Freshmen students at a northeastern university (N = 207; 72% women) responded to an online Fall 2020 semester survey.

Results

The percentage of students who participated in on-campus partying during past month was 11.6%, with 20.3% participating in off-campus partying. Living on campus and higher perceived norms for partying were associated with higher levels of on-campus PB, whereas higher perceived norms for partying, stronger college alcohol beliefs, and a more conservative political ideology accounted for significant variance in off-campus PB.

Conclusions

Efforts to reduce party behavior should target misperception of party behavior norms as well as college alcohol beliefs, and take into account students’ residence and political ideology.

Keywords:

• COVID-19
• party behavior
• college alcohol beliefs
• perceived norms
• political ideology

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States of America and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of Niagara University.

Funding

No funding was used to support this research and/or the preparation of the manuscript.