Campus Location

Abilene Campus (Residential)

Date of Award

Spring 5-2016

Document Type

Thesis

Department

Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Richard Beck

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

David P. McAnulty

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Scott Perkins

Abstract

Substance use is one of the greatest concerns for adolescents and emerging adults. The consequences of prolonged substance use can lead to physical, psychological, and financial consequences for those suffering from use as well as their loved ones. One consequence that has not been researched thoroughly is the association between substance use and the decision to leave higher education, which is a decision that could have lasting effects on former students’ ability to obtain satisfactory employment in the future. This research looks at substance use and variables that are associated with the decision to leave college, which are derived from Tinto’s theory of student attrition. These variables are social and academic integration. Researchers used the Drug Use Screening Inventory and the Institutional Integration Scale to obtain data from 169 undergraduate college students from an introductory psychology course. Researchers hypothesized that there would be a negative relationship between substance use and academic integration. The results found were partially supportive of the hypotheses. The implications of these results as well as future directions for research are discussed.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.