The role of personal identity as a resource for college students during COVID-19

Examining the Factor Structure and Correlates of Motives to Drink Before Attending a Virtual Social Event During COVID-19 Among University Students

Background: Many university students pregame or drink before a social event. Pregaming carries some risk due to its link to heavy drinking. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was limited access to many drinking venues (e.g., bars/clubs). Moreover, universities shifted to a virtual format and imposed restrictions on in-person gatherings resulting in the reliance on virtual platforms for class instruction, meetings, and social events. The pandemic facilitated changes in students' drinking behaviors, stress levels, and how they maintained social contact with others. Thus, it is conceivable that during an academic pandemic year, students may have engaged in the act of drinking before attending a virtual social event. Objectives: In the present study, we examined the factor structures/item loadings of the Pregaming Motives Measure-Virtual (PGMM-V) among students (N = 283; Mage = 21.38; women = 69.3%; White = 45.4%, Hispanic = 40.8%) from seven universities who completed an online questionnaire (Spring/Summer-2021). Items from the original Pregaming Motives Measure (Bachrach et al., 2012) were modified to reflect motives to drink before attending a virtual social event. Results: We found evidence for a 2-factor structure model of the PGMM-V which includes social/enhancement and social ease/stress. Bivariate correlations indicated that social/enhancement and social ease/stress were (a) positively associated with frequency of drinking and alcohol consumption prior to attending virtual social events, and (b) general drinking motives (social/enhancement/coping) that align with these motives. Conclusions: The PGMM-V is a promising instrument that could be used in future research designed to understand students' pregaming behaviors for virtual social events as the use of such platforms are increasingly relied upon for social engagement.

Business as usual? Drinking games participation before and during an academic pandemic (COVID-19) year among university students

Objective: A drinking game (DG) is a risky social drinking activity that is prevalent among university students and promotes rapid alcohol consumption. We examined university students' DG behaviors before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: Students (N = 368; Mage=21.12; women = 72.6%; Hispanic = 44.7%) from seven universities completed an online survey in 2021 (spring/summer). Results: 57% played DGs in-person before the pandemic and continued to play during the pandemic. These students were less worried about their health/symptoms if they were to contract COVID-19, had lower confidence in wearing a mask properly/socially distancing while under the influence of alcohol, consumed more alcohol during the pandemic, and endorsed higher enhancement drinking motives than students who played DGs before but stopped playing during the pandemic (30%). Conclusions: College health practitioners could pay close attention to students who endorse high enhancement motives as they are susceptible to risky DG play.