Abstract
Objective:
To investigate demographics, sport type, athletic identity, and COVID-19 sport season cancelation in relation to alcohol consumption among college student athletes shortly after the pandemic emerged.
Participants:
College student athletes recruited from U.S. athletic departments.
Methods:
Survey data were collected from 5,915 college student athletes in April/May 2020.
Results:
Being female, Latinx, and in a relationship were associated with lower alcohol consumption. Among males, team sport participation was related to greater alcohol consumption. Among females, athletic identity was inversely related to drinking, which was moderated by sport type, such that alcohol consumption was lower as athletic identity strengthened in individual (vs. team) sport athletes. However, we did not find a relationship of COVID-19 sport season cancelation with drinking.
Conclusions:
Our gender-specific findings are novel and generalizable based on a large, national sample of college student athletes, and may inform strategies for alcohol consumption education among college team sport athletes.
Keywords: alcohol use, sport type, athletic identity, COVID-19 pandemic, racial and ethnic differences
Introduction
Compared to nonathletes, college student athletes report heavier alcohol consumption,1 and among student athletes, individuals who are team sport players tend to consume more alcohol than those who are individual sport players.2 How strongly college students identify as athletes may relate to their drinking, though few studies have examined this relationship: In particular, Grossbard and colleagues3 related stronger athletic identity to greater alcohol consumption, whereas Zhou and colleagues4 related stronger athletic identity to less alcohol consumption among individual, but not team, sport athletes. Thus, to understand drinking among student athletes, athletic identity and sport type should be considered.
Stress from the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., uncertainty, social isolation) may also motivate drinking,5,6 though research is lacking among college student athletes. College student athletes have experienced both general stress from the COVID-19 pandemic and unique stress from consequent sport season cancelation in March 2020. Given the above information, we might expect drinking among college student athletes to be affected by athletic identity, sport type, and COVID-19 sport season cancelation.
Thus, we investigated athletic identity, sport type, and COVID-19 sport season cancelation in relation to drinking among male and female college student athletes shortly after the pandemic emerged, and also considered key demographics1,2,7 (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, age, and relationship status). We hypothesized that team sport participation and COVID-19 sport season cancelation would be associated with greater alcohol consumption. We further hypothesized that stronger athletic identity would be associated with greater alcohol consumption, and that this relationship would be moderated by sport type and COVID-19 sport season cancelation. Specifically, we expected that athletic identity would be less positively related to alcohol consumption among individual sport athletes (vs. team sport athletes), and that athletic identity would be more positively related to alcohol consumption for athletes whose sport season was canceled (vs. not).
Methods
Data Collection
Data for this cross-sectional study were collected April 10 to May 23, 2020 in a larger examination of college student athletes’ psychological well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Study procedures were approved by the University of North Texas IRB. Participants were 5,915 college student athletes (33.4% male) recruited from athletic departments across the U.S. (see Table 1). Athletic department staff forwarded the Qualtrics survey link to athletes, who consented and voluntarily participated. We offered athletes the opportunity to enter a raffle to receive one of four $200 Amazon gift cards.
Table 1.
Participant Demographics and AUDIT-C Score Means and Comparisons.
| n | % | M | SD | p | Multiple comparisons | Effect size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||||
| Gender | <.001 | d = .13 | |||||
| Female | 3924 | 67 | 1.75 | 2.04 | |||
| Male | 1975 | 33 | 2.04 | 1.91 | |||
| Race (Female) | <.001 | η2 = .01 | |||||
| White/European Americana | 3187 | 84 | 1.85 | 1.93 | ab<.001; ac.252; ad.130; bc.301; bd.137; cd1.00 | ||
| Black/African Americanb | 354 | 9 | 1.15 | 1.67 | |||
| Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islanderc | 171 | 4 | 1.51 | 1.78 | |||
| Mixed/Biraciald | 93 | 2 | 1.52 | 1.94 | |||
| Race (Male) | <.001 | η2 = .04 | |||||
| White/European Americana | 1433 | 75 | 2.30 | 2.38 | ab<.001; ac.017; ad.992; bc.832; bd.125; cd.462 | ||
| Black/African Americanb | 388 | 20 | 1.21 | 1.86 | |||
| Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islanderc | 45 | 2 | 1.45 | 1.64 | |||
| Mixed/Biraciald |
38 | 2 | 2.18 | 2.82 | |||
| Ethnicity (Female) | .038 | d = .11 | |||||
| Not Hispanic/Latinx | 3559 | 91 | 1.56 | 1.83 | |||
| Hispanic/Latinx | 365 | 9 | 1.77 | 1.92 | |||
| Ethnicity (Male) | .625 | d = .04 | |||||
| Not Hispanic/Latinx | 1784 | 90 | 1.96 | 2.30 | |||
| Hispanic/Latinx |
190 | 10 | 2.05 | 2.31 | |||
| Relationship Status (Female) | <.001 | d = .13 | |||||
| Single, not in a romantic relationship | 1509 | 39 | 1.91 | 1.93 | |||
| In a romantic relationship or married | 2401 | 61 | 1.66 | 1.89 | |||
| Relationship Status (Male) | .433 | d = .04 | |||||
| Single, not in a romantic relationship | 835 | 43 | 2.09 | 2.29 | |||
| In a romantic relationship or married |
1123 | 57 | 2.00 | 2.32 | |||
| Age (Female) | <.001 | η2 = .09 | |||||
| 18 years olda | 410 | 10 | 1.14 | 1.81 | ab.969; ac.001; ad<.001; ae<.001; af<.001; bc<.001; bd<.001; be<.001; bf<.001; cd<.001; ce<.001; cf<.001; de.973; df.994; ef1.00 | ||
| 19 years oldb | 1078 | 28 | 1.22 | 1.69 | |||
| 20 years oldc | 1085 | 28 | 1.57 | 1.78 | |||
| 21 years oldd | 829 | 21 | 2.49 | 1.92 | |||
| 22 years olde | 431 | 11 | 2.58 | 1.98 | |||
| 23+ years oldf | 78 | 2 | 2.63 | 2.21 | |||
| Age (Male) | <.001 | η2 = .07 | |||||
| 18 years olda | 168 | 9 | 1.27 | 1.91 | ab.959; ac.018; ad<.001; ae<.001; af<.001; bc.019; bd<.001; be<.001; bf<.001; cd<.001; ce<.001; cf.014; de.998; df1.00; ef.999 | ||
| 19 years oldb | 532 | 27 | 1.42 | 2.08 | |||
| 20 years oldc | 516 | 26 | 1.84 | 2.23 | |||
| 21 years oldd | 428 | 22 | 2.80 | 2.36 | |||
| 22 years olde | 217 | 11 | 2.72 | 2.30 | |||
| 23+ years oldf | 91 | 5 | 2.85 | 2.70 | |||
N = 5915. Combined ns < 5915 due to missing data specific to each demographic category. AUDIT- C = Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test Alcohol Consumption scores (sum of first three AUDIT items, range: 0–12).
Self-Report Instruments
Participants reported demographic characteristics (i.e., gender, racial and ethnic identities, age, relationship status), sport played, and if their sport season was canceled due to COVID-19. Alcohol consumption was assessed with the sum of the first three items (each scored 0–4) of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT-C),8 which pertain to alcohol use frequency, drinks consumed per occasion, and binge drinking frequency. Timeframe instructions were modified to the past four weeks to coincide with the duration of time since collegiate sports had been canceled. The AUDIT-C had acceptable internal consistency (α = .65), not significantly different from .70 (F(5914,11828) = .859, p = 1.00). Athletic identity was assessed with the mean of three items from the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS),9 specifically “I consider myself an athlete”, “Most of my friends are athletes”, and “Sport is the most important part of my life.” Athletes responded to each item from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The 3-item AIMS had acceptable internal consistency (α = .62), not significantly different from .70 (F(5914,11828) = .787, p = 1.00).
Data Analysis
There were less than 9% missing data, and data passed normality screening. We used a supermatrix dataset10 calculated from 100 datasets imputed in the R package, PcAux.11 First, we conducted independent t-tests and Cohen’s d effects sizes for mean differences in AUDIT-C scores by gender as well as for gender-specific mean differences in AUDIT-C scores by ethnicity and relationship status. To test gender-specific mean differences in AUDIT-C scores by race and age group, we conducted Welch ANOVAs with post hoc Games-Howell tests and eta-squared effects sizes (η2). Second, we ran moderation regressions for male and female student athletes separately using Model 2 from version 3.5 of the PROCESS macro12 for IBM SPSS Statistics 26; we predicted alcohol consumption (AUDIT-C scores) based on athletic identity (AIMS scores) moderated by sport type (individual vs. team) and COVID-19 sport season cancelation adjusted for demographic covariates. We set alpha at .05 for analyses, and provide 95% CIs for regression parameter estimates.
Results
Overall, 65.3% of student athletes’ sport seasons had been canceled due to COVID-19, and 60.9% reported recent alcohol consumption (AUDIT-C score ≥ 1). Based on prior research,13 we classified female and male student athletes as hazardous drinkers with AUDIT-C scores of ≥ 4 and ≥ 5, respectively: 16.7% of females and 15.2% of males. Participant demographics and AUDIT-C score means and comparisons are shown in Table 1.
Male (vs. female) student athletes reported significantly greater alcohol consumption. For both male and female student athletes, African Americans reported significantly less alcohol consumption than Whites. Among males, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders reported significantly less alcohol consumption than Whites. Among females, Latinx (vs. non-Latinx) student athletes reported significantly less alcohol consumption. Single female student athletes reported significantly greater alcohol consumption than those in a relationship. For both male and female student athletes, alcohol consumption was higher at age 20 than at age 19, and at age 21 than at age 20; however, this trend of significantly greater alcohol consumption did not exist at ages 22 or 23+.
For male student athletes, the regression model was significant (F(11,1810) = 21.11, p < .001), accounting for 11.4% of the alcohol consumption variance. Sport type was the only significant (b = 1.45, 95% CI [0.377, 2.53]) main effect; there were no significant interactions. Overall, team, compared to individual, sport athletes had greater alcohol consumption.
For female student athletes, the regression model was significant (F(11,3691) = 40.67, p < .001), accounting for 10.8% of the alcohol consumption variance. Athletic identity was the only significant (b = −0.20, 95% CI [−0.34, −0.06]) main effect, demonstrating an inverse relationship with alcohol consumption. Sport type moderated the athletic identity – alcohol consumption relationship (b = 0.13, 95% CI [0.01, 0.25]); the athletic identity to lower alcohol consumption relationship was stronger for individual than for team sport athletes (see Figure 1). There were no other significant interactions.
Figure 1.
Female Athletes’ Athletic Identity (AIMS) Prediction of Alcohol Consumption (AUDIT-C) Moderated by Sport Type.
Discussion
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and college sports season cancelation, demographic findings were consistent with prior research in college student athletes;1 specifically, male college student athletes reported greater alcohol consumption than female college student athletes. Based on gender-specific AUDIT-C score cutoffs, however, the percentage of female college student athletes (16.7%) classified as hazardous drinkers was similar to male college student athletes (15.2%). Therefore, it must be considered that the typical finding of female student athletes reporting less drinking does not equate to them engaging in less hazardous drinking.
Regarding demographics, we found significant relationships with age, race, and ethnicity separately by gender. Although it is not surprising that 21-year-old college student athletes (the legal drinking age) drink more than those at age 20, this trend of greater drinking was also apparent between the ages of 19 and 20 for all student athletes. Generally consistent with prior research,14 White student athletes reported greater alcohol consumption than minority student athletes (e.g., than male and female African Americans); however, the particular finding that, among male student athletes, Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders consume less alcohol than Whites, is novel. Furthermore, for female student athletes, holding a Latinx identity and being in a relationship were associated with less alcohol consumption. Though our finding is in accord with prior work reporting marginally lower alcohol consumption in Hispanic college student athletes14 and greater alcohol consumption in single college student athletes,7 our study is the first to report that these associations may be specific to female college student athletes.
In partial agreement with hypotheses and one previous study4 that only tested males and females together, we found that college team sport athletes reported greater alcohol consumption than individual sport athletes, specifically among males. Perhaps team sport athletes tend to engage in more collective drinking in order to facilitate group cohesion,4 and male gender norms strengthen this relationship.15
Contrary to hypotheses, we found that stronger athletic identity was associated with lower alcohol consumption, specifically among female college student athletes. This result contradicts Grossbard and colleagues’ finding3 that stronger athletic identity was related to greater alcohol consumption, and Zhou and colleagues’ finding4 that athletic identity was unrelated to alcohol consumption (in their overall sample). Notably, however, our study is the first to document a gender-specific association between athletic identity and alcohol consumption: Zhou and colleagues4 tested males and females together, and although Grossbard and colleagues3 considered them separately, gender-specific correlations between athletic identity and alcohol consumption were not statistically significant.
The stronger athletic identity – lower alcohol consumption relationship in female student athletes was also moderated by sport type. Specifically, with higher levels of athletic identity, female individual sport athletes reported lower levels of alcohol consumption than team sport athletes. Although broadly consistent with Zhou and colleagues,4 who related stronger athletic identity to less alcohol consumption among individual sport athletes in a combined-gender sample, our findings are novel and accentuate the role that gender may play in determining how certain factors, such as sport type and athletic identity, potentially combine to influence drinking. Female college students who strongly identify as athletes may place a high value on their sporting performance, which may be especially true for individual sport athletes, since there is no shared responsibility for poor performance in individual sports as in team sports. In other words, performance on the playing field depends entirely on individual sporting performance among individual sport athletes, which may help explain why female individual sport athletes with stronger athletic identities in particular are less likely to consume more alcohol that might negatively affect their performance.
Contrary to hypotheses, we found no support for either the direct or moderating effect of COVID-19 sport season cancelation. Though this finding was unexpected, there are some potential explanations. First, the detrimental effects of pandemic-related stress may become more apparent over time, which we could not test with our cross-sectional data. Second, it may be that drinking associated with the COVID-19 pandemic increases only among regular drinkers.16 Third, the summative nature of the AUDIT-C as an alcohol consumption measure (e.g., combining use frequency and binge drinking) may mask differential effects that pandemic-related stress may have on specific forms of drinking. For instance, a recent study indicated that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol use frequency increased while binge drinking decreased.17 Also, in the short-term, athletes may have experienced some relief from not practicing and competing; however, what may be perceived as a break early on could become more distressing as the pandemic persists and ultimately contribute to increased drinking. Longitudinal research, following athletes across months of the pandemic, would allow for testing of each explanation. Lastly, it is worth mentioning that we did not collect data on teammate social support, which a recent study18 indicated may have an impact on athletic identity and mental health (and thus could be a factor that influences student-athlete drinking).
Conclusions
Despite the lack of findings related to COVID-19 sport season cancelation, our gender-specific findings are novel and generalizable based on a large, national sample of college student athletes. In particular, the findings that team sport athletes drink more than individual sport athletes specifically among males, and that alcohol consumption is lower in individual sport athletes than team sport athletes as athletic identity strengthens specifically among females, are both novel contributions to the literature. These findings may inform strategies for alcohol consumption education among team sport athletes across genders.
Funding:
This study was supported by funding from the University of North Texas through a College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences (CLASS) grant and a National Institute on Drug Abuse grant (L30-DA049311).
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
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