School Attachment And The Use Of Alcohol Among Rural High School Students

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between school attachment and
alcohol use in rural communities to determine if students with high levels of school
attachment were less likely to participate in alcohol use. Participants included 4,768 high
schools students in the largest rural geographic educational region in the state of Illinois.
The students participated in a program called I Sing the Body Electric and completed a
survey which asked questions including how well students are attached to their school
and alcohol use. Chi square goodness of fit tests were used to analyze student's reporting
of school attachment, how old they were when they began drinking alcohol, on how
many of the past 30 days they had at least one drink of alcohol or 5 or more drinks of
alcohol in a row. The results indicated that the majority of the students who reported
feeling a sense of attachment to their school are also those students who reported little or
no alcohol consumption.

Date of Award	2011
Original language	American English
Awarding Institution	Eastern Illinois University
Supervisor	Kirstin N. Johnson (Supervisor)