Comparing National College Health Assessment with other surveys of cannabis use and binge drinking among young adult college students 2008–2018

Abstract

Objective: We considered the utility of National College Health Assessment (NCHA) data relative to other national data for studying college students’ cannabis use and binge drinking, and drug policy effects. Participants: Survey data on 18–22-year old college students were drawn from the 2008–2018 NCHA, National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), Monitoring the Future (MTF), and Healthy Minds Study (HMS). Methods: Prevalence estimates were compared across data sources in terms of level and change from 2008–2018 using linear regressions, separately for men and women. Results: Mean prevalence estimates for 30-day cannabis use and 2-week binge drinking, and linear time trends did not differ significantly among NCHA, NSDUH, and MTF. Conclusions: NCHA prevalence estimates are similar to those from NSDUH and MTF, NCHA has unique strengths, and some weaknesses can be offset. Findings support the value of NCHA for studying college students’ substance use and effects of drug policy.

Keywords:

• Binge drinking
• college students
• cannabis
• cannabis legalization
• survey methods

Acknowledgments

The opinions, findings and conclusions presented and reported in this paper are those of the authors, and are in no way meant to represent the corporate opinions, views or policies of the American College Health Association (ACHA). ACHA does not warrant nor assume any liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information presented in this article.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts to disclose. As the team used extant data publicly available or available by request from qualified researchers, the Oregon State University IRB determined the project did not involve research with human subjects. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States.

Additional information

Funding

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