Daily Reports of Positive and Negative Affect and Alcohol and Marijuana Use Among College Student and Nonstudent Young Adults

ABSTRACT

Background: Daily affect and substance use covary among college students, but little is known about these associations among young adults not in college. Objectives: The current pilot study examines associations between positive and negative affect and alcohol and marijuana use, with a focus on differences between college student and nonstudent young adults. Methods: High school seniors completed a baseline survey during the spring of 2012 and were then randomly selected to participate in an intensive measurement follow-up. Participants in the follow-up (N = 72, 40.3% men, 77.8% White, 66.7% full-time college students) completed up to 14 consecutive web-based daily surveys during the fall after high school completion. Multilevel models in which days (Level 1) were nested in persons (Level 2) were estimated. Results: Weekend days were associated with increased alcohol use among all young adults, increased marijuana use among college students, and decreased marijuana use among nonstudents. For young adults not in college, greater daily positive affect was associated with increased likelihood of binge drinking, consuming a greater number of drinks, and lower odds of marijuana use; greater daily negative affect was associated with lower odds of alcohol use and lower odds of binge drinking for non-students. For college students, greater daily negative affect was associated with lower odds of marijuana use. Conclusions/Importance: Daily affect and alcohol and marijuana use covary among young adults, though these associations differ between students and non-students. Results highlight the need to examine predictors of alcohol and marijuana use among young adults who do not attend college.

Keywords:

• Alcohol
• college
• marijuana
• positive and negative affect
• young adult

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [Grant number R21 DA031356].

Glossary

• Affect: Affect refers to observable feelings or emotions. Positive affect is associated with positive mood and emotions, whereas negative affect is associated with negative mood and emotions.

• Multilevel modeling: Multilevel models (also called hierarchical linear models, linear mixed models, or nested models) are statistical models with parameters at more than one level to acknowledge the hierarchical or clustered nature of data. For example, longitudinal data are multilevel because multiple observations are clustered within individuals.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Megan E. Patrick

Megan E. Patrick, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. Her published research focuses on the development and consequences of adolescent and young adult risk behaviors, including alcohol use, drug use, and risky sexual behaviors.

Gloria Yeomans-Maldonado

Gloria Yeomans-Maldonado, M.S., is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Quantitative Research, Evaluation and Measurement program in the Department of Educational Studies at The Ohio State University. Gloria's research interests include issues related to multilevel modeling, specifically tied to adequate sample sizes, effect sizes, and model fit. She is currently a Graduate Research Associate at The Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy.

Jamie Griffin

Jamie Griffin, Ph.D., is an assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research. She is a survey methodologist and statistical analyst interested in nonresponse and measurement errors and multilevel and latent variable models.