Daily Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Alcohol Use in At-Risk College Students

Background: The college years present an opportunity to establish health behavior patterns that can track across adulthood. Health behaviors tend to cluster synergistically however, physical activity and alcohol have shown a positive association.

Purpose: This study applied a multi-method approach to estimate between- and within-person associations between daily physical activity, sedentary behavior and alcohol use among polysubstance-using college students.

Methods: Participants were screened for recent binge drinking and either tobacco or cannabis use. They wore an activPAL4 activity monitor and a Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor continuously in the field for 11 days, and completed daily online questionnaires at the beginning of each day to report previous day physical activity, sedentary behavior, and alcohol consumption.

Results: Participants (N = 58, Mage = 20.5 years, 59% women, 69% White) reported meeting national aerobic physical activity guidelines (75%) and drinking 2–4 times in the past month (72%). On days when participants reported an hour more than usual of daily sedentary behavior, they reported drinking for less time than usual (γ = −.06). On days when participants took 1,000 more steps than usual, the longest episode of continuous transdermal alcohol detection was shorter (γ = −.03).

Conclusions: Daily physical activity and sedentary behavior were negatively associated with time-based measures of alcohol use with the lowest risk on days characterized by both activity and sedentary behavior. Intensive longitudinal monitoring of time-based processes can provide new insights into risk in multiple behavior change and should be prioritized for future work.

Files

Metadata

Work Title Daily Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Alcohol Use in At-Risk College Students
Access
Open Access
Creators
  1. Ashley B. West
  2. Rachel N. Bomysoad
  3. Michael A. Russell
  4. David E. Conroy
Keyword
  1. Physical activity
  2. Alcohol use
  3. Sedentary behavior
  4. Polysubstance use
  5. College students
License In Copyright (Rights Reserved)
Work Type Article
Publisher
  1. Annals of Behavioral Medicine
Publication Date September 24, 2021
Publisher Identifier (DOI)
  1. https://doi.org/10.1093/abm/kaab085
Deposited July 29, 2022

Versions

Analytics

Collections

This resource is currently not in any collection.

Work History

Version 1
published

  • Created
  • Added ABM_Manuscript_Final_Version_Aug_2021.docx
  • Added Creator A B West
  • Added Creator R N Bomysoad
  • Added Creator M Russell
  • Added Creator David E Conroy
  • Published
  • Renamed Creator Ashley B. West Show Changes
    • A B West
    • Ashley B. West
  • Renamed Creator Rachel N. Bomysoad Show Changes
    • R N Bomysoad
    • Rachel N. Bomysoad
  • Renamed Creator Michael A. Russell Show Changes
    • M Russell
    • Michael A. Russell
  • Renamed Creator David E. Conroy Show Changes
    • David E Conroy
    • David E. Conroy
  • Updated Keyword Show Changes
    Keyword
    • physical activity, alcohol use, sedentary behavior, polysubstance use, college students
  • Updated Work Title Show Changes
    Work Title
    • Daily Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Alcohol Use in At-Risk College Students.
    • ! Daily Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Alcohol Use in At-Risk College Students.
  • Updated Work Title Show Changes
    Work Title
    • ! Daily Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Alcohol Use in At-Risk College Students.
    • Daily Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Alcohol Use in At-Risk College Students.
  • Updated Work Title, Keyword, Description Show Changes
    Work Title
    • Daily Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Alcohol Use in At-Risk College Students.
    • Daily Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Alcohol Use in At-Risk College Students
    Keyword
    • physical activity, alcohol use, sedentary behavior, polysubstance use, college students
    • Physical activity, Alcohol use, Sedentary behavior, Polysubstance use, College students
    Description
    • Daily Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior and Alcohol Use in At-Risk College Students.
    • Background: The college years present an opportunity to establish health behavior patterns that can track across adulthood. Health behaviors tend to cluster synergistically however, physical activity and alcohol have shown a positive association.
    • Purpose: This study applied a multi-method approach to estimate between- and within-person associations between daily physical activity, sedentary behavior and alcohol use among polysubstance-using college students.
    • Methods: Participants were screened for recent binge drinking and either tobacco or cannabis use. They wore an activPAL4 activity monitor and a Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitor continuously in the field for 11 days, and completed daily online questionnaires at the beginning of each day to report previous day physical activity, sedentary behavior, and alcohol consumption.
    • Results: Participants (N = 58, Mage = 20.5 years, 59% women, 69% White) reported meeting national aerobic physical activity guidelines (75%) and drinking 2–4 times in the past month (72%). On days when participants reported an hour more than usual of daily sedentary behavior, they reported drinking for less time than usual (γ = −.06). On days when participants took 1,000 more steps than usual, the longest episode of continuous transdermal alcohol detection was shorter (γ = −.03).
    • Conclusions: Daily physical activity and sedentary behavior were negatively associated with time-based measures of alcohol use with the lowest risk on days characterized by both activity and sedentary behavior. Intensive longitudinal monitoring of time-based processes can provide new insights into risk in multiple behavior change and should be prioritized for future work.
  • Updated