Getting “Game”: Pregaming Changes During the First Weeks of College

Abstract

Objective: Many students pregame (ie, drink before drinking), but there are scant data evaluating changes following college entry. The authors examined pregaming across the fall quarter and identified predictors of change and initiation in college. Participants: Freshmen (N = 708; 53% female, 100% drinkers) were recruited during university orientation (baseline). Methods: Self-report data were collected at baseline and end of fall quarter for 3 cohorts (the 2008–2010 academic years) and included demographics, alcohol use, problems, pregaming, personality, and expectancies. Results: Pregaming increased from 61.7% (baseline) to 79.9% (follow-up), with students pregaming twice as often and attaining higher blood alcohol concentration at follow-up. Many (54%) baseline non-pregamers initiated by follow-up. Initiation was associated with increased overall drinking (including heavy episodic drinking), positive expectancies, and greater behavioral activation sensitivity. Conclusions: Pregaming rapidly escalates upon college entry and students who initiate in college may be at higher risk for alcohol-related problems. Campus prevention and intervention efforts should consider including pregaming in their prevention programming.

Keywords:

• alcohol
• college transition
• high-risk drinking
• pregaming
• trajectories

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This research was supported in part by internal research funds from the Santa Clara University Office of Student Life and grant Q184H090105 from the US Department of Education. The authors would like to thank Sergio Flores (Palo Alto University), and Elise Neudeck, and Christina La Salvia (Santa Clara University Department of Psychology) for their assistance with study recruitment and data entry.

Notes

^a Pregaming change analyses conducted on subset of students who reported pregaming at both assessment time points (n = 419).

^b Average pregaming quantity measured in standard drinks.

^c Average time per pregaming episode measured in minutes.

^d Overall alcohol involvement measured by square-root-transformed Quantity Frequency Variability Index scores.