Giving means receiving: the protective effect of social capital on binge drinking on college campuses

• DOI: 10.2105/ajph.90.12.1936
• Publication Date: 2008-11-29T13:33:29Z
• Authors: Elissa R. Weitzman; Ichiro Kawachi
• Keywords: Binge drinking

OBJECTIVES: We tested whether higher levels of social capital on college campuses protected against individual risks binge drinking. METHODS: used a nationally representative survey 17,592 young people enrolled at 140 4-year colleges. Social was operationalized as individuals' average time committed to volunteering in the past month aggregated campus level. RESULTS: In multivariate analyses controlling for volunteering, sociodemographics, and several characteristics, individuals from with higher-than-average had 26% lower risk drinking (P < .001) than their peers other schools. CONCLUSIONS: may play an important role preventing setting.