An examination of the impact of maladaptive coping on the association between stressor type and alcohol use in college

ABSTRACT

Objective: Examine the impact of maladaptive coping style on the association between source of stress (academic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, environmental) and alcohol use (consumption, heavy episodic drinking, driving under the influence) among college students. Participants: 1,027 college students completed an online survey in April 2014. Methods: To test the mediating effects of maladaptive coping on the association between academic stress and alcohol use variables, indirect effects were examined using the PROCESS analytical framework for SPSS. Results: Maladaptive coping and academic stress were associated with alcohol use outcomes. Moreover, maladaptive coping mediated the relationship between academic stress and two of three alcohol use outcomes (consumption, heavy episodic drinking). Conclusions: Among college students, the association between academic stress and alcohol use may be driven by maladaptive coping. College students may benefit from interventions that seek to improve coping skills, potentially alleviating the burden of academic stress and decreasing problematic alcohol use.

KEYWORDS:

• Alcohol
• college
• coping
• mediation
• stress

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 and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the University of South Carolina.

Funding

Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by grants R01DA025616–04 S1 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), NIH and T32MH18869 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), NIH. Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agencies acknowledged.