Impulsivity, Alcohol and Risky Behaviors: The Influence of Sensation Seeking Traits on Alcohol Related Risky Behaviors in University Students

This study looks at whether certain personality traits correspond to the risk taking behaviors of drinking and driving or being a passenger in a car of a driver who has been drinking. Specifically, the author will look at sensation seeking traits and whether individuals who score higher on a sensation seeking scale also engage in the risky behaviors of driving drunk or getting into a vehicle with someone who is driving drunk. The reason to examine these issues, particularly in university students, is because research has shown that the number of 18–24-year-old college students who reported driving under the influence of alcohol increased from 2.3 million students to 2.8 million - a 26.5% to 31.4% increase in the population - during the last decade (Hingson, Heeren, Winter, and Wechsler, 2005). Additionally the Centers for Disease Control reports that in 2010, over 1.4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This figure is only one percent of the 112 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year (“Impaired Driving”, 2015). Prior research has shown that college students, through self-reports, were more likely to engage in risky alcohol related behaviors of driving under the influence or getting in the car with a driver who has been drinking, score higher on sensation seeing and impulsivity scales (Zakletskaia, Mundt, Balousek, Wilson, and Fleming, 2008). This study seeks to confirm the connection between risky behaviors and high scores on a sensation seeing and impulsivity scales. The author predicts that participants who score higher on the Sensation Seeking Scale will report more risky behaviors while drinking. This study seeks to better understand the personality traits associated with the behavior drinking and driving, in hopes that understanding will prevent and better protect the college population from these unnecessary injuries and deaths. Curran, M. F., Fuertes, J. N., Alfonso, V. C., & Hennessy, J. J. (2010). The association of sensation seeking and impulsivity to driving while under the influence of alcohol. Journal of Addictions & Offender Counseling, 30(2), 84-98. Hingson, R., Heeren, T., Winter, M., & Wechsler, H. (2005). Magnitude of alcohol-related mortality and morbidity among U.S. college students ages 18-24: Changes from 1998 to 2001. Annual Review of Public Health, 26: 259-279. doi: 10.1146/annurev.publhealth. 26.021304.144652 Impaired Driving: Get the Facts. (2015, May 19). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html Saunders, J.B., Aasland, O.G., Babor, T.F., de la Fuente, J.R. and Grant, M. (1993). Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT): WHO collaborative project on early detection of persons with harmful alcohol consumption. Addiction, 88, 791-804. Zakletskaia, L. I., Mundt, M. P., Balousek, S. L., Wilson, E. L., & Fleming, M. F. (2008, December 14). Alcohol-impaired driving behavior and sensation-seeking disposition in a college population receiving routine care at campus health services centers. Accident Analysis and Prevention 41(2009), 380-386. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2008.12.006 Zamboanga, Byron L. (2005). Alcohol expectancies and drinking behaviors in Mexican American college students. Addictive Behaviors, 30(4), 673-684. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2004.08.013 Zuckerman, M., Eysenck, S., & Eysenck, H. J. (1978). Sensation Seeking Scale, Form V. PsycTests, doi: 10.1037/t04065-00