TABLE 3: ITEMS MEASURING GENERAL PERCEPTIONS OF ALCOHOL Item
Item Description
1.
Alcohol helps people to break the ice socially
2.
Alcohol enhances people’s social activities
3.
Alcohol makes it easier for people to deal with stress
4.
Alcohol makes it easier for people to make friends
5.
Alcohol helps people to forget their problems
6.
Alcohol gives people something to talk about
7.
Alcohol helps people to relax
8.
Alcohol helps people to have more fun
9.
Alcohol makes people look sexier
10.
Alcohol makes it easier for people to engage in sexual activities
Overall, students overwhelmingly endorsed the statements that alcohol helped people to break the ice socially (75 per cent) and that alcohol made it easier for people to engage in sexual activities (70 per cent) (see Table 4). The items with the least amount of student endorsement were that alcohol made people look sexier (26 per cent) and that alcohol helped people to forget their problems (32 per cent).
TABLE 4: GENERAL PERCEPTIONS OF ALCOHOL Item
In Agreement
Alcohol helps people to break the ice socially
75.5%
Alcohol enhances people’s social activities
51.9%
Alcohol makes it easier for people to deal with stress
34.6%
Alcohol makes it easier for people to make friends
45.8%
Alcohol helps people to forget their problems
32.2%
Alcohol gives people something to talk about
52.8%
Alcohol helps people to relax
68.2%
Alcohol helps people to have more fun
59.0%
Alcohol makes people look sexier
26.2%
Alcohol makes it easier for people to engage in sexual activities
70.0%
The sample’s scores on the general perceptions of alcohol index were significantly correlated with a number of items. Students with more positive perceptions of alcohol tended to have a lower GPA (r = .14, p < .01), tended to be younger (r = -.14, p < .01), and were more likely to engage in alcohol consumption at an earlier age (r = -.11, p < .05) than students with more negative perceptions. In addition, higher scores on the general perceptions of alcohol index were significantly and positively correlated with scores on the sensation seeking scale (r = .27, p < .001) and with the average number of 20