A Cocktail of Extracurricular Activities (ECAs): Different ECA Combinations and Their Association With Heavy Drinking in Two College Cohorts

The activities that students participate in are important to college life and outcomes. With regard to the problem outcome of heavy drinking, some activities pose risks (e.g., fraternity/sorority life) and others are protective (e.g., religious groups), yet students often participate in multiple activities. We estimated the odds of frequent heavy drinking as a function of all 2-, 3-, and 4-activity combinations (out of 10 total activities) in 2 separate college cohorts of 1,005 and 592 students. Findings showed that activities indeed combine to form informative high- and low-risk groups for intervention and advising, adding additional insight into the theory of college involvement.