The Impact of Gender and Religion on College Students ’ Spring Break Behavior

The authors investigated the influence of gender and religion on health-risk behavior potentials and destinationrelated expectations of college students on spring break vacation using a random sample of 534 students from two U.S. universities. Results indicated that gender and religion had a significant impact on students‘ potential to engage in health-risk behaviors during spring break as well as their choice of spring break destinations and their expectations for hospitality service quality and characteristics of the destinations. Important social marketing and public policy implications for the tourism and hospitality industry are discussed. Article: Knowledge regarding travel-related behavior, motivations, and preferences of major tourism markets is of utmost importance to the travel and tourism industry. Ongoing, relentless attempts to attract new traveler segments have prompted the travel and tourism industry to target their marketing efforts toward the college student market (Field 1999). In the United States, there were more than 14 million students enrolled in colleges in 1994, and the enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities is expected to grow to 16 million by 2007 (Kessler 1998). School vacations and extended holidays provide college students with many opportunities for travel, mainly during spring break and the summer. For example, in Field‘s (1999) study of Clemson University students, more than 70% of domestic students indicated that they were likely to travel over the break. Approximately 1 million U.S. students engage in some form of spring break vacation (Josiam, Clemons, and Hobson 1995). Therefore, the college student market represents a potentially viable and lucrative target for many hospitality service providers. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into how gender and religion of students affect their spring break behavior. The spring break environment has been characterized by college students as an atmosphere that provides opportunities to indulge in ―unusual‖ activities, in which personal rules and codes ―do not apply‖ or are ―temporarily suspended‖ (Maticka-Tyndale, Herold, and Mewhinney 1998, p. 262). Focusing on having fun and engaging in hedonistic behavior in a non-routine, break-loose environment comes with a sense of freedom that unfortunately might lead to potentially risky behaviors by college students. A recent Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study suggested that college students in general were highly inclined to engage in risky behavior such as unprotected sex, substance abuse, and smoking (Selingo 1997). In particular, the potential for risky behavior of college students is exponentially magnified in a typical spring break environment conducive to unregulated alcohol consumption and casual sex. Prior studies have suggested that gender (Maticka-Tyndale, Herold, and Mewhinney 1998; Smeaton, Josiam, and Dietrich 1998; Corbin, McNair, and Carter 1996), religion (Slicker 1997; Engs, Diebold, and Hanson 1996), and other sociodemographic variables can significantly influence health risk behaviors of college students. This study empirically investigated the roles played by gender and religion in influencing alcohol consumption and risky sexual behavior among college students during spring break. Considering the aforementioned public health ramifications of typical spring break vacations, this study also explored social marketing implications for providers of spring break–related services. Social marketing— defined as an effort to use effective marketing skills and techniques to influence individual behavior to improve the social welfare of the community by improving its members‘ physical and mental well-being (Andreasen 1995)—can be instrumental in enhancing the college students‘ spring break experience while increasing their awareness regarding the consequences of health risk behaviors. REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE Alcohol Consumption and Risky Sexual Behavior among U.S. College Students According to past drinking surveys, the college student population had the largest proportion of drinkers in the United States as compared to other population groups in the country (Gonzalez 1986). Although more college students are saying no to alcohol, more of those who drink do so to get drunk (Reisberg 1998). In a 1997 study of 116 colleges, 19% of students abstained from drinking (Reisberg 1998). How-ever, data from the 1993 Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study suggested that, on a national scale, one out of five college students was a frequent binge drinker (Wechsler et al. 1998, 1999). Binge drinking is generally defined as five or more drinks at a setting for men and four or more for women (Reisberg 1998). Smeaton, Josiam, and Dietrich (1998) reported that binge drinking was particularly common among spring break students. In their study at Panama City Beach, the average number of drinks consumed the previous day was 18 for men and 10 for women. Students who were motivated to visit the destination because of its party image consumed significantly more alcohol than students who had cited other motivations. Research findings indicate that a vast majority of U.S. college students are sexually active. For instance, Douglas et al. (1997) found that 86% of college students had engaged in sexual intercourse and 34% of the respondents had had six or more sexual partners in the past. According to the latest University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Higher Education Research Institution annual survey, the number of students supporting casual sex is dropping; it reached an all time low of 40% in 1997 (Women in Higher Education 1999). Despite this decrease in favorable attitudes toward casual sex, the students‘ behavior might not be changing as rapidly. For example, Hawkins, Gray, and Hawkins‘s (1995) study suggested that a substantial number of students at a north-western university engaged in risky sexual practices. Furthermore, in their random sample of college students Hill et al. (1995) reported that a majority of heterosexual respondents had behaved in a way that placed them at risk for both sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and unplanned pregnancy. Religion and Risky Behaviors Prior studies (Hawks and Bahr 1992; Cochran 1991; Burkett 1980) have determined that religiosity (especially among those affiliated to certain denominations) can have a deterrent and inhibitory influence on deviant and risky behaviors among youth. Results from a study conducted at a southern state university indicated that religious-moral taboos was the primary reason for abstaining from alcohol consumption; the abstinent group and light drinkers endorsed religious-moral reasons significantly more often than others (Slicker 1997). Studies examining the relationship between religiosity and drug use among European youth have suggested that religious affiliation was a significant predictor of attitudes toward drug use (Mullen and Francis 1995) and that youngsters with minimal or no church contact (attendance) demonstrated the most liberal attitudes toward substance use (Francis and Mullen 1997). Furthermore, the effects of religiosity have also been found to be fairly consistent across drug types (Cochran 1991). Poulson et al.‘s (1998) study of college students in a rural region of the southwestern United States concluded that women with strong religious beliefs consumed less alcohol and were less likely to engage in casual sex than women with weaker religious beliefs. Among men, religion was not significantly correlated with alcohol consumption or risky sexual behavior (Poulson et al. 1998). More than 50% of the females and 36% of the males who were abstaining from alcohol in Slicker‘s (1997) study chose religious beliefs as their main reason for avoiding alcohol consumption. Beeghley, Bock, and Cochran‘s (1990) U.S. study on alcohol behavior indicated that the strongly religious reported a high probability of alcohol nonuse compared to the weakly religious, who were more likely to misuse alcohol. Considering the relationship between religious affiliation and permissive attitudes toward drinking, alcohol consumption has been found to be highest among Jews, followed by Catholics, and lowest among Protestants (Engs, Diebold, and Hanson 1996; Carlucci et al. 1993). It can be inferred that strong religious messages (and moral messages proposed by the church) about alcohol abstinence can have a major impact on personal rates of alcohol consumption (Poulson et al. 1998; Beeghley, Bock, and Cochran 1990; Burkett 1980). Gender and Risky Behaviors Consistent gender differences in alcohol consumption have been reported in recent as well as past studies (e.g., Humara and Sherman 1999; Zucker and Harford 1983)— male alcohol users outnumbered female alcohol users, and a greater preponderance of heavy alcohol consumption existed among males compared to females. Engs, Diebold, and Hanson‘s (1996) gender analysis of at-risk drinkers from a national sample of college students categorized about one out of three men as being at risk, compared to about one out of five for females. Men were also more likely to report that it was socially acceptable to be intoxicated occasionally (Svenson, Jarvis, and Campbell 1994). Variations in drinking behavior among men and women might be partially caused by differences in societal and cultural attitudes regarding the use of alcohol (Schall, Kemeny, and Maltzman 1992). Getting drunk may be viewed as permissible for men but inappropriate for women (Poulson et al. 1998). In addition, a heightened ―concern for physical safety and well-being, recognition of potential dangers attributed to drug and alcohol use; and exclusion of sex and dating as activities done for fun‖ (p. 70) among women may be important factors in augmenting women‘s resistive attitudes toward alcohol and drug abuse (Doherty and Szalay