Individuals who participate in university sport have been found to engage in more hazardous drinking behaviors than their nonathlete student peers. This includes consuming greater quantities of alcohol, drinking more frequently, and engaging in more binge or heavy episodic drinking (Martens et al., 2006; Partington et al., 2013; Zhou & Heim, 2014). Greater incidence of heavy episodic drinking has been found to be associated with negative personal outcomes such as injury and psychological harm, as well as negative community outcomes including criminal damage and violence (Anda et al., 2002). This relationship between sport participation and hazardous/ harmful alcohol consumption holds across race and gender and has been found in collegiate athletes in multiple countries (Green et al., 2014; O’Brien et al., 2008; Partington et al., 2013). As such, alcohol consumption has been highlighted as one of the most pressing well-being concerns in collegiate sport (Chow et al., 2022).
Although the links between hazardous and harmful drinking and participation in collegiate sport have been noted, it has been suggested that heavy drinking among students is a harmless expression of youthful high spirits, which they will grow out of once they assume the responsibilities of adult life (Arria et al., 2016; Vik et al., 2003). This phenomenon is referred to as “maturing out” (Conroy et al., 2021; O’Malley, 2004). There is a significant body of research suggesting that individuals do mature out of excessive drinking once they make the transition from adolescence to adulthood (Lee & Sher, 2018; Windle, 2020). This trend toward a reduction in alcohol consumption has been seen generally among students following graduation from college (Arria et al., 2016). However, little is known about the maturing out phenomenon in students who are, or have been, athletes.
A longitudinal study by Cadigan et al. (2013) found that starting athletic involvement was associated with binge drinking and ceasing athletic involvement with reductions in drinking. However, there is evidence to suggest that for some athletes the relationship between alcohol and sport endures beyond their years of active sporting involvement (Green et al., 2014). These conflicting findings suggest complex contextual and temporal elements to the sport–alcohol relationship that have not yet been explored. Green et al. (2014) argue that there are few detailed longitudinal data sets on athletes and call for both more longitudinal work and more qualitative work to further elucidate the mechanisms underpinning the sport–alcohol relationship. In addition, Green et al. (2014) suggest the need for further study of the relationship between substance abuse and exposure to sport that considers the continued effect on the athlete once time in organized sport has finished.
A mechanism that has been used to explain student-athlete drinking behavior is drinking motives. Cooper (1994), using Cox and Klinger’s (1988) motivation model of alcohol use, identified four drinking motive types. These can be categorized as two internally driven motives: coping (drinking to decrease negative emotional states) and enhancement (drinking to increase positive emotional states), and two externally driven motives: social (drinking to be sociable) and conformity (drinking to fit in). Studies of student-athletes have shown that social and enhancement motives are the primary reasons for drinking (Doumas & Midgett, 2015).
Martens et al. (2005) have suggested that student-athlete drinking motives are likely to be developed from a combination of the general motives identified by Cooper (1994) and sport-related drinking motives that are specific to the sporting environment, such as team-related motives (e.g., pressure from teammates to drink), positive reinforcement (e.g., drinking as a reward for working hard at their sport), and sport-related coping (e.g., drinking to deal with poor performances). Sport-related drinking motives have been found to be useful in predicting alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems in student-athletes after accounting for demographic variables and general drinking motives (Martens et al., 2005). However, methodological and statistical limitations of the studies and inconsistent findings make it difficult to draw definitive conclusions. Little is currently known about how student-athletes’ drinking motives may change as they transition away from university sport.
The Current Study
Study Aims
The current study aimed to respond to the call by Green et al. (2014) to add to the longitudinal data sets on sport and alcohol. By adopting a longitudinal, predominantly qualitative approach, we aimed to provide new knowledge about the temporal and contextual aspects of the sport–alcohol relationship and, by using drinking motives as a framework, shed light on the underpinning mechanisms. Our aim was to provide information to inform interventions targeted at student-athlete drinking that will support long-term athlete health. We aimed to answer the following questions: How do student-athletes’ drinking behaviors change over time following graduation? and what role do drinking motives play in shaping these changes?
Philosophical Approach
Our philosophical position was informed by the practical concerns of applied sport psychologists, clinicians, coaches, and athletes. Our primary focus was to close the gap between academic and applied sport psychology. As such, our approach to this research was situated within the pragmatic stance as described by Giacobbi et al. (2005). Pragmatists choose methods and theories that are useful within a specific context to understand practical problems rather than to reveal truths about the nature of reality (Giacobbi et al., 2005). Giacobbi et al. (2005) make the point that a mixed methods approach in which qualitative and quantitative data are collected in parallel can enable researchers to bring different epistemological views and interpretations to the research, and as a result provide a more comprehensive answer to the research question. In this research, we adopted what Giacobbi et al. (2005) term a “parallel–simultaneous dominant–less dominant design,” with the qualitative method being the dominant method and the quantitative method being the less dominant method.
Methods
Participants
Participants were purposefully selected (Creswell & Clark, 2017) from a wider sample of 261 final year undergraduate students (82 men and 179 women) who had already participated in the initial phase of a longitudinal survey-based quantitative study on student drinking (Jankowski, 2018). Participants were selected because they had self-identified in the initial survey as playing sport while at university, either for a university team or an external team. Of the wider sample of 261 students, 50 students self-identified as playing sport while at university.
All 50 students that met the selection criteria of playing sport while at university were contacted via their university email and were provided with basic information about the nature of the current study. Nine students agreed to participate in the current study. This would involve them participating in longitudinal interviews alongside the longitudinal collection of their Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) (Saunders et al., 1993) scores. One participant withdrew from the study prior to the final stage of data collection (Time point 3). Although only eight participants fully engaged in the current study, each underwent an in-depth one-to-one interview on three separate occasions. This enabled the collection of rich, contextualized, longitudinal data on their drinking behavior and motives.
Table 1 presents a summary of participants including their age at recruitment (M = 21.2, SD = 0.97), gender, level of sporting involvement, employment status, and AUDIT score at each of the three time points.
Sample Characteristics
| ID | Age | Sex | Sport TP 1 | Sport TP 2 | Sport TP 3 | Employed TP 2 | Employed TP3 | AUDIT TP 1 | AUDIT TP 2 | AUDIT TP 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jade | 20 | F | Jiujitsu | Jiujitsu | Jiujitsu | Student | Employed | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Alan | 21 | M | Soccer | Soccer | Soccer | Employed | Employed | 20 | 24 | 20 |
| Lucy | 21 | F | Soccer | — | — | Employed | Unemployed | 18 | 7 | 6 |
| Billy | 23 | M | Rugby | Rugby | Rugby | Employed | Employed | 20 | 17 | 15 |
| Sean | 22 | M | Soccer | — | Soccer | Student | Employed | 10 | 4 | 6 |
| Ellie | 21 | F | Gymnastics | — | — | Employed | Employed | 8 | 4 | 4 |
| Dina | 22 | F | Athletics | — | — | Employed | Employed | 16 | 8 | 8 |
| Katy | 20 | F | Rugby | Rugby | Rugby | Employed | Employed | 19 | 13 | 15 |
| Rochelle | 21 | F | Rugby | — | — | Employed | Unemployed | 17 | 13 | N/A |
Note. AUDIT = Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test; F = female; M = male; TP = time point; N/A = not available.
Procedure
Following full institutional ethical approval, participants were contacted via their university email and provided with a participant information sheet and an informed consent form. Participants were given time to consider the information and to ask questions before agreeing to take part. Written, first-person informed consent was gained from each participant prior to commencement of the first round of interviews (Time point 1). Participants were then contacted to arrange a convenient time and location for interview.
Interviews were conducted at three separate time points, with a gap of at least 12 months between each round. The data collection was designed in this way to allow an in-depth picture to emerge of each participant’s life during their final year at university and as they moved further in time from the point of their graduation. Given that maturing out is not simply a function of age but rather is related to the uptake of adult responsibilities (Vik et al., 2003), it was important to gain insight into their life circumstances at each time point. As participants were also involved in the online longitudinal survey that was part of the wider study, AUDIT scores were available for each participant, at each time point, as a self-reported record of their alcohol consumption. To reduce attrition between each phase of the longitudinal data collection in the wider study, incentives were offered in the form of a prize draw for £150 of Amazon vouchers at each time point. Incentives such as this have proven effective in combating attrition in previous longitudinal studies (Audet, 2004). A Facebook profile and a Twitter profile were set up to provide regular topical information on student drinking. No additional incentives were offered for participation in the interviews.
An interview guide was devised following a review of existing literature. The guide included topics such as current drinking behavior, reasons for drinking, general life circumstances, and the contexts within which drinking took place. The aim was to elicit rich, in-depth data. Prior to commencement of data collection, a pilot interview was held with a 21-year-old female gymnast who had scored in the hazardous category on the AUDIT. Following the pilot interview, the guide was deemed appropriate to obtain the desired data. The same interview guide was used with each participant to ensure consistency of the topics discussed. However, the semistructured nature of the interviews allowed each participant to deviate from the guide to discuss areas more relevant to their personal experiences (Kallio et al., 2016). This has been found to be an effective method for collecting data when the research question(s) require information on the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of people on a particular topic, and where there is a need to delve deeply into personal and potentially sensitive issues (DeJonckheere & Vaughn, 2019). Slightly amended interview guides were developed for the second and third time points to reflect the fact that the participants were no longer full-time undergraduate students.
The first round of data collection took place at the end of the students’ final year at university (Time point 1), with the second and third rounds of data collection taking place 18 months (Time point 2) and 30 months (Time point 3) postgraduation. Additional time was given between Points 1 and 2 to allow participants time to settle into their new postuniversity life following the summer break at the end of their final year. The first round of interviews all took place face-to-face on the university campus. Interviews at Points 2 and 3 were conducted via a mixture of face-to-face and telephonic interviews depending upon the participant’s location. All interviews were audio-recorded to ensure that no relevant data were lost. The same researcher (lead author) carried out all the interviews. Each interview lasted, on average 1 hr, resulting in a total of approximately 24 hr of interview data. Participants were assigned pseudonyms to ensure anonymity. After completion of the interviews, participants received a debrief sheet.
Data Analysis
All interviews were transcribed verbatim to produce an accurate record of the conversation and to enhance the researcher’s familiarity with the data (Dey, 2003). The initial phase of analysis consisted of describing the drinking behaviors exhibited by the participants at each time point and the contexts in which drinking was taking place. The participants’ life circumstances were also considered. Comparisons were drawn between the different time points to identify similarities and differences. The focus of the analysis then became about understanding what decisions and motives underpinned the drinking behaviors.
Each interview was coded and analyzed using thematic analysis following the principles set out by Braun and Clarke (2006). Interviews were grouped by time point, creating three separate analyses. Thematic analysis was used to identify, analyze, and classify themes. Themes were created by first generating codes from the data at a line-by-line level. This was done inductively, using the data itself to drive coding, and, therefore, not influenced by a particular theoretical framework. Following this initial coding, commonly occurring themes were identified from the codes. These themes were then reviewed and grouped based upon their relatedness, allowing for construction of a hierarchal model of main themes and subthemes. At this point, Cooper’s (1994) model of drinking motives was applied to the data. This model was selected due to the extensive evidence base supporting the existence of the four predicted motives (Cooper et al., 2016). Martens et al.’s (2005) sport-related motives were then applied to ensure that the sport context was considered. Themes were compared across time points to see how drinking behaviors and motives developed and changed both individually and as a group. The analysis was carried out by the first author. Two members of the research team who have expertise in qualitative research acted as “critical friends,” encouraging the first author to reflect on and consider multiple and alternative interpretations of the data set (Smith & McGannon, 2017). In particular, the first author was asked to explain and justify his decisions. Where there were differences of opinion between the first author and the critical friends, these differences were discussed, and justifications presented. The three then came to an agreement as to the final decision. For example, at Time point 2 there was initial disagreement as to whether a predominant motive for drinking in a new social circle should be described as “enhancement” or “social.” Discussion between the first author and the critical friends resulted in the interpretation of an interaction between enhancement and social motives. An enhancement motive (to increase confidence) was present, but driving the drinking behavior was the main goal of being sociable.
Results and Discussion
Time Point 1: Final Year of University
Drinking Behavior and Context
During their final year at university, all participants reported going out drinking at least once a week. Several were engaging in heavy drinking on multiple occasions across the week. As can be seen in Table 1, all participants scored hazardous or above on the AUDIT. Drinking activities typically started with “predrinking” at home or at a friend’s house, where cheap wine and spirits were consumed. Predrinking has been found to contribute to increased intoxication and a range of adverse consequences such as blackouts, drunk driving, and aggressive behavior (Kuntsche & Labhart, 2013). Predrinking events were usually followed by trips to local bars and clubs offering low-cost alcohol. Student-athletes drank with friendship groups on most days of the week, but Wednesday night was restricted to socializing with teammates on “sports nights out.” Sports nights out were characterized by heavy drinking, fueled by participation in drinking games and challenges. These activities are akin to those described in previous research on student-athletes (e.g., Clayton, 2013; Sparkes et al., 2007).
Drinking Motives
Billy: Saturdays we would have a training session, probably 10-12. You take your clothes with you then 12, half 12, you showered at the club. You were all together. “Oh, should we go to the pub? Rugby kicks off in half an hour.” So, you know from September through to say May, those months were filled with alcohol on a Saturday because of the rugby.
Jade: Because it was social because everyone else was and when you go out you tend to have a drink.
Katy: If you say even before we play the game that you are not going out or you do not want to go out, by the time you have got home or finished where we have tea afterward, you would probably be going out because they will probably persuade you to go out.
Billy: There is always the “I have got to out-drink him” or you know you play drinking games on the bus . . . expectations of the rugby team itself are I guess the pressures that the lads feel that they have on them.
Competitiveness has been linked to increased alcohol consumption in studies on U.S. collegiate athletes. For example, Serrao et al. (2008) found that higher levels of competitiveness are related to increased alcohol consumption in both recreational and elite athletes and among nonathletes. Athletes with high levels of competitiveness were more prone to drinking large amounts of alcohol at single sittings. This could be linked to the social status gained from “beating” their peers by drinking a greater volume or drinking faster (Hummer et al., 2011). Athletes may also feel obliged to participate in competitive binge drinking challenges on sports nights out (team-related motives).
Lucy: Wednesday nights in particular. Err was sports night and it was sort of like you have to go out on like Wednesday nights if you are part of a team.
Katy: In the second year I started living with some of my teammates and then the same again in the third year as well. Once you get new freshers you become friends with them and then they are wanting to go out because they are freshers. So, they want all the older ones to go out too. Obviously, the social peer pressure, it does not help with living with teammates.
The final motive that participants discussed at Time point 1 was to use alcohol as a means of “blowing off steam,” escaping the pressures of university life, and celebrating academic success. This is in line with the findings of Kuntsche et al. (2005) in which heavy drinkers were found to drink for mood enhancement purposes. Participants drank following periods of heightened stress, such as after assignment hand-ins. The motive was to enhance positive mood following the hand-in rather than as a coping strategy during the stressful period.
Two participants mentioned behaviors that could be viewed as signs of more serious alcohol issues. One participant discussed the fact that Wednesday night drinking events were an opportunity for very heavy drinking to be viewed as socially acceptable. The other talked about wanting to have a drink because they had not yet had one that day. In their review paper, Ham and Hope (2003) suggest that coping motives for drinking are related to greater experience of drinking problems and psychological distress in college students. It has been suggested that the student-athlete lifestyle may result in a unique combination of stressors (Wilson & Pritchard, 2005). These stressors may increase the likelihood of student athletes drinking due to coping motives. Martens et al. (2005) suggest that student-athletes may have sport-related coping motives for drinking, that is, to help them deal with a poor sporting performance. Participants did drink to drown their sorrows after defeats. However, for most of the participants, at this stage, social, conformity, and enhancement motives were more prevalent than coping motives.
Time Point 2: 18 Months After Graduation
Drinking Behavior and Context
Eighteen months after graduation, most participants reported slightly lower AUDIT scores than they had during their final year at university (see Table 1). However, for most participants, scores were still in the hazardous or above categories, and they were still engaging in heavy drinking on a weekly basis. They did not yet have the traditional responsibilities of marriage and children that have been associated with maturing out (O’Malley, 2004), but they had begun to take on some adult responsibilities. For example, all were employed or involved in courses of study that involved work placements (Settersten & Ray, 2010). Participants commented that the responsibility of their jobs had an impact on the pattern of their drinking. In contrast to their time at university, no one reported regular multiple weekly outings. Instead, they were consuming most of their weekly alcohol intake in one sitting, typically at a weekend. This was to avoid being tired or hungover at work. For some participants, the fact that they were now earning their own money made them reflect more carefully on their spending.
Katy: Yeah, so usually it starts in the office. We finish at five on a Friday, so usually they will get the beers out at about four in the office.
It was not clear whether the decision to engage in the predrinking was due to financial considerations or for other reasons such as conforming with the behavior of their colleagues.
For those participants who had maintained involvement in sport since leaving university, their sports teams/clubs constituted a third drinking group. Drinking in this sports group ranged from casual drinking after games to much heavier drinking akin to the drinking behavior exhibited during their student years. For those involved in a sports-based drinking group, the social interaction of the group revolved around alcohol.
Drinking Motives
Sean: The majority of social occasions, particularly in the evening, would involve you know alcohol, . . . I would say it had a pretty big . . . big effect on what we did and where.
Alan: I probably socialized more with alcohol involved, I think it gives you a little bit more confidence in socializing with different people . . . this is in terms of people who you did not really know and having a little bit of a conversation with different people.
Participants talked about how they used alcohol as a social crutch (coping motive) when engaging in social activities with new friendship groups from new university courses or jobs. This is a tactic that they learned through their university sport participation. Previous research has shown that alcohol is often used as a facilitator for new social interaction (Cheadle & Williams, 2013; Kuntsche et al., 2006). Drinking to cope with meeting new people or engaging in new social activities has previously been found in socially anxious college student drinkers (Ham et al., 2009). It is possible that some of the athletes in the current study may identify as socially anxious drinkers. However, this was not specifically discussed with the participants, so it is not possible to draw any definitive conclusions in relation to this.
Currently, the mechanism underpinning the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol-related problems is not fully understood, and findings are contradictory. However, it has been suggested that socially anxious drinkers may be more susceptible to perceived peer drinking norms (Terlecki et al., 2012), and may exhibit stronger conformity and coping motives (Terlecki & Buckner, 2015). There is a need to further explore the relationship between socially anxious drinkers and alcohol-related problems, particularly in athlete populations. However, this was beyond the scope of the current study.
Most research in adult populations has focused on coping motives such as stress relief as a key motivation for drinking (Naimi et al., 2003; O’Brien et al., 2007). However, for these participants, alcohol was being used to cope with the anxiety of new social situations (coping motive), by bolstering confidence (enhancement motive) and, thus, gaining desired social experiences (social motives). This interaction of motives is an interesting finding. Research has looked at the interaction between drinking motives and other variables (e.g., presence of friends, Thrul & Kuntsche, 2016; social norms, Halim et al., 2012; and coping strategies and alcohol expectancies, Hasking et al., 2011). However, we were unable to find previous research specifically looking at the interactions between different drinking motives, and there is a need for more research into this.
One of the biggest changes at Time point 2 was that participants experienced little direct pressure to drink. Participants mentioned that, while it would be acceptable to turn up to lectures hungover because lots of people attended lectures hungover, this does not happen in a work environment, and so they would not do it. Here, we see conformity motives having an influence on participants’ drinking, but, in this case, conforming involved reducing alcohol intake. One participant mentioned that when she returned to university, she experienced peer pressure to drink heavily and was motivated to conform to this behavior again.
Billy: Game Day was a Wednesday at University; so the same procedure would happen on a Wednesday evening, as it would as a Saturday once I graduated.
The relationship between alcohol consumption and rugby participation is well documented. For example, O’Brien et al. (2005) in a study of alcohol consumption in rugby players at provincial and international levels found that hazardous levels of alcohol consumption were common for their participants. Studies have found that belief that their sports team approved of binge drinking predicted intention to binge drink and actual binge drinking (French & Cooke, 2012). For Billy, drinking was a significant feature of his postuniversity rugby participation and was a practice that he felt was approved of by his club.
Jade: It was a bit different when you were on a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate of Education) it was more like you were going out to . . . like get a release.
Alcohol consumption has long been associated with stress relief and tension reduction (Lee et al., 1999). Indeed, research has highlighted the role of alcohol consumption as a coping motive in people experiencing high levels of stress (Corbin et al., 2013). Coping was also a key drinking motive for those participants that were in employment. In this case, it was to help them to forget the pressures of the working week. In addition to drinking to attenuate negative mood (coping motive), this could also be seen as drinking to enhance positive mood and well-being (enhancement motive).
While alcohol use is frequently linked to relaxing and having a “good time,” literature highlights the risks of stress-related alcohol consumption (Sadava & Pak, 1993). Studies have pointed to this type of behavior being a risk factor for the onset of depression and other anxiety-based disorders (Sadava & Pak, 1993). In a recent study of drinking behavior, motives, and depression during the COVID-19 pandemic, McPhee et al. (2020) found associations between coping drinking motives and symptoms of depression, as well as between coping drinking motives and alcohol consumption. While it is impossible to determine whether any of the participants in this study are likely to fall into these risk categories, the fact that some of them discussed coping as a key drinking motive is a potential cause for concern.
Time Point 3: 30 Months After Graduation
At Time point 3, AUDIT scores reported for the group had largely stayed the same as at Time point 2. As was the case at Time point 2, at this stage, most participants still engaged in sport were drinking at hazardous levels, and at higher levels than those who had discontinued their sporting involvement (see Table 1). Drinking was predominantly taking place with work colleagues and, in the case of those still involved in sport, with teammates. Participants described their drinking with work friends as like the behavior that characterized their drinking while at university. Some participants mentioned that they and their friends were more settled in their romantic relationships by this point and that this resulted in fewer “big nights out.” Again, the financial implications of drinking were discussed at this stage, and some participants talked about being mindful of the financial cost of heavy drinking and the desire to save up. Here, we see some further evidence of transition to adult responsibilities.
For those who were still involved in playing sport, their sports team remained a highly significant drinking circle, and drinking activities within this group had not changed in nature from how they were described at Time point 2. The two drinking groups (work and sport) were separate and, as such, offered those still involved in sport additional drinking opportunities. Several participants mentioned that they had reduced their drinking to sensible levels at this time point, yet according to their AUDIT score their drinking behavior was still hazardous or harmful. This finding is consistent with the findings of other studies examining perceptions of sensible drinking limits (Cooke et al., 2010). There are clear implications here for the need to intervene during the university years to reduce consumption levels and change perceptions of what constitutes sensible drinking.
Drinking Motives
In the final phase of data collection, social rewards (social) and enhancing positive mood/fun (enhancement motive) were the most common motives. Although conformity and coping motives were still present, they played a smaller role. Although they did still use alcohol to bolster confidence and combat anxiety in unfamiliar social settings, participants were now much more familiar with, and comfortable in, their postuniversity drinking groups. This could explain why social motives remained prevalent, whereas coping motives were less evident than at Time point 2. For participants who were not consuming alcohol on a weekly basis, large social gatherings were the primary context for their drinking, for example, weddings and birthdays. Again, drinking motives were primarily social although enhancement motives also came into play.
Like at Time point 2, there were fewer references to explicit peer pressure (conformity) as a motive to drink. In addition, the participants seemed further removed from university friendship groups and were now only socializing with a few core friends from this period. Any pressure to drink felt by participants was from trying to adhere to social conventions and norms (indirect pressure). Previous research on the role of peer pressure in heavy drinking has demonstrated that it is often indirectly linked to alcohol use, and, in fact, enhancement motivations and coping motivations are the real factors at play (Studer et al., 2014). Despite this, the notion of conformity did still seem to be prevalent in certain scenarios, such as drinking publicly.
Billy: I think from grassroots level to professional level. I think, specifically with rugby, there is a culture of rugby players being known for enjoying a beer. I think that is the majority of sports but more specifically rugby players.
The final prevalent motive among participants at Time point 3 was coping, specifically, stress relief. This is another factor that was present across all three points of the study but had manifested in different ways. Point 3 was very similar to Point 2 in that participants were motivated to drink to escape the pressures of the work week.
Clinical Implications
Our findings indicate that there is a clear need for clinicians to not only develop targeted interventions to reduce student-athlete drinking, but to consider how to communicate more effectively to student-athletes what sensible drinking levels are. Due to the high levels of drinking that take place and are normalized in university sports clubs, student-athletes’ perceptions of sensible drinking are not accurate. Even though they may reduce their levels of consumption, because they are starting at such a high point, such reductions are not always taking them to sensible levels of consumption.
Several of the current participants admitted to engaging in drinking to help them cope in new social situations. Although the relationship between social anxiety and drinking is not fully understood, and has not been explored extensively with student-athletes, such athletes may benefit from psychotherapy to help manage social anxiety. In addition, previous research has found that socially anxious drinkers underutilize protective behavioral strategies in relation to drinking. Specific interventions that teach student-athletes protective behavioral strategies such as stopping drinking at a certain time, avoiding predrinking prior to nights out, and putting extra ice in drinks could help to prevent the harms associated with heavy drinking (Terlecki et al., 2020).
There is some existing research on students who transition from heavy-to-moderate or heavy-to-light drinking (e.g., Conroy et al., 2021). This research shows that the transition from heavy-to-lighter drinking brings with it a range of dilemmas that individuals must consider and negotiate. Conroy et al. (2021) suggest that future interventions should take account of the dilemmatic nature of the transition. For example, they recommend a reflective diary approach that enables students to log and reflect upon their transition experiences and to identify the benefits of lighter drinking. This approach could prove valuable in informing interventions with student-athletes.
Further insight could be gained from findings relating to athletes’ alcohol expectancy outcomes. Zamboanga et al. (2012) found that high school athletes who showed greater endorsement of negative athletic-functioning drinking expectancies (e.g., alcohol’s effect on one’s ability to learn new plays and to recover from sporting activities) exhibited lower levels of risky drinking. Educational interventions that focus on raising awareness of the negative impact of alcohol on athletic performance could prove valuable.
Conclusions
Although these participants had begun to make the transition to adult responsibilities, and a slight reduction in alcohol consumption was evidenced, most were still drinking at harmful or hazardous levels 30 months postgraduation. Significantly, the participants themselves believed that they had reduced their drinking to sensible levels and did not perceive a need for any further reductions. This misperception about what constitutes sensible drinking originates in the heavy drinking practices experienced within student sport, which provide a skewed frame of reference that has important health implications moving forward.
Further long-term consequences for student-athlete drinking were also found. Those who remained actively involved in sport following graduation were drinking more than those who had ceased participation, and membership of a sports club provided these individuals with additional opportunities to drink. Interestingly, those who had left sport at Time point 2 had reduced their drinking but when they returned to sport at Time point 3 they reported that their consumption had increased again. These findings lend support to the suggestion that the relationship between sport and alcohol consumption is an enduring one and that serious consideration should be given to the development of alcohol interventions targeted at adult sports teams and clubs. Finally, at all three time points, drinking was predominantly driven by social motives. During their time at university, participants had learned that social events were more enjoyable if they engaged in heavy drinking, and this expectancy was transferred onto other social situations once they had left university. Participants were predominantly motivated to drink to fit in, to enhance a positive mood and, once they had left university, to cope with new social situations and work stress. Although to date interventions with student-athletes have predominantly focused on reducing alcohol intake, our findings suggest that they would also benefit from psychological interventions to develop social confidence and manage anxiety around social situations, both in sport and more broadly, as well as to manage work-related stress.
Limitations
Potential limitations of this study are the small sample size (n = 8), the small range of sports included in the sample, and the fact that participants are all from one U.K. university. We acknowledge that these issues are problematic in terms of precluding statistical–probabilistic generalizability. However, due to the ontological and epistemological assumptions that underpin qualitative studies, statistical–probabilistic generalizability was not a meaningful goal for this research. The aim of this study, as is fitting with qualitative approaches, was to examine student-athletes’ lives in rich detail. To this end, small, homogenous samples, purposefully chosen, are strengths of the qualitative process (Smith, 2018). As qualitative researchers, we do not ignore the relevance of generalizability. However, rather than seeking statistical–probabilistic generalizability, our aim was for naturalistic/representational generalizability (Smith, 2018).
Naturalistic/representational generalizability is reached on the basis that the research resonates with the reader’s own experiences, that is, the reader feels as if the research findings are recognizable in relation to their own experiences or to experiences they have witnessed, and that they “ring true” to those experiences. If they do not ring true, the findings provide opportunity to discuss and explore alternative responses. To achieve naturalistic generalization, we have provided rich detail of the participants’ lives through “evidence,” in the form of quotes, contextual details, and theoretical expressions to help readers reflect and make connections to their own lives (Smith, 2018).
In the United Kingdom, the legal drinking age is 18 years. The student-athletes in this study could, therefore, legally drink during the entirety of their university careers. This is not the case in those cultures where the legal drinking age differs from the United Kingdom. As such, we acknowledge that our findings may not resonate with readers from other cultures and present these findings as a starting point for exploring points of similarity and departure.
A further limitation of the study is that we did not explore the influence of family factors including role modeling and family history of alcohol use or abuse. These are factors that could shape an athlete’s drinking motives and drinking behavior but were beyond the scope of the current work. Including these factors in future longitudinal qualitative work would provide further insight and understanding.
Future Directions
While we have shed light on the relationship between the drinking behaviors and drinking motives of student-athletes once they have left university, there is still a need for further research. This study only followed participants for 30 months after their graduation from university. It would be valuable to follow them beyond this time point as they take on more adult responsibilities such as parenthood and career progression. Although our research lends support to the notion of an enduring relationship between alcohol consumption and sport participation, and goes some way toward explaining it, further work is needed to provide a more nuanced understanding to better inform future intervention strategies. We applied drinking motives as a theoretical lens but longitudinal qualitative work utilizing other approaches, for example, social norms or drinking expectancies are needed.
As mentioned in the Limitations section, this research was focused upon U.K. student-athletes. Athletes from different countries may have different experiences of and relationships with alcohol. For example, the United Kingdom has a lower legal drinking age than some other countries, and this may shape athletes’ drinking motives and behavior. It would be interesting to determine how well the current findings resonate with student-athletes in different countries and to explore areas of similarity and difference.
Although research on students who have transitioned to lighter drinking practices could prove valuable in informing interventions for student-athletes, there is little current research available that is specifically focused on student-athletes who do not drink excessively or refrain from drinking alcohol. Research into motives for lighter drinking or drinking abstinence in student-athletes would provide a valuable counterpoint to existing findings around heavy drinking in student-athletes and could further inform future intervention strategies.
Finally, we have mentioned social anxiety as a potential influence on the drinking motives and drinking behaviors of student-athletes; however, we did not explore this in detail. Future research that focuses more on social anxiety and its influence on student-athlete drinking could prove particularly valuable in understanding student-athlete drinking behavior and in informing intervention strategies.
Acknowledgment
This work was completed as part of a PhD internally funded by Northumbria University.
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