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Chronic Generalized Harassment During College: Influences on Alcohol and Drug Use

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

The experience of chronic generalized harassment from others can have a deleterious impact on individuals over time. Specifically, coping resources may be taxed, resulting in the use of avoidant coping strategies such as substance use. However, little is known about the experience of chronic generalized harassment (e.g., verbal hostility, manipulation by others, exclusion from important events) and its impact on substance use in collegiate populations. In the current study, we examined the latent growth of generalized harassment across the transition from high school to college, whether this growth was heterogeneous, and the relationships between latent generalized harassment classifications and substance use. Incoming freshmen students (N = 2890; 58 % female; 53 % white) at eight colleges in Illinois completed a web survey at five points: fall 2011 (baseline), spring 2012 (T1), fall 2012 (T2), fall 2013 (T3) and fall 2014 (T4). Students were required to be at least 18 years old at baseline, and were compensated with online gift certificates. Two-part latent class growth analysis was implemented in order to examine heterogeneous growth over time. The results supported a two-class solution (infrequent and chronic classes) for generalized harassment. Growth in harassment was characterized by a decrease from baseline through college entry, with a recovery in rates by T3. Members of the chronically harassed class had greater mean generalized harassment over time, and were less likely to report zero instances of harassment experiences. As hypothesized, membership in the chronic class predicted future binge drinking, drinking to intoxication, problems due to alcohol use, and cigarette use, but not marijuana use. Future interventions should focus on providing college students with resources to help cope with distress stemming from persistent generalized harassment from peers, faculty, and other individuals in higher-education settings.

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Acknowledgments

This article was supported by Grant R01AA018138 from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to the second author. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism or the National Institutes of Health. The data were collected by the Survey Research Laboratory at University of Illinois at Chicago.

Authors’ contributions

M.M. participated in the study’s design and statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript; K.R. conceived of the study, participated in the design, and drafted the manuscript; L.L. participated in the statistical analysis, and interpretation and presentation of the data analysis; J.R. conceived of the study and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Human Rights Statement

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1601 W Taylor St., Chicago, IL, USA

    Meredith McGinley, Kathleen M. Rospenda & Judith A. Richman

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1603 W Taylor St., Chicago, IL, USA

    Li Liu

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  1. Meredith McGinley
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  2. Kathleen M. Rospenda
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  3. Li Liu
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  4. Judith A. Richman
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Correspondence to Meredith McGinley.

Appendix: Generalized Harassment Questionnaire (Modified Version—College Students)

Appendix: Generalized Harassment Questionnaire (Modified Version—College Students)

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McGinley, M., Rospenda, K.M., Liu, L. et al. Chronic Generalized Harassment During College: Influences on Alcohol and Drug Use. J Youth Adolescence 44, 1898–1913 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0313-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0313-1

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