The Social Science Journal

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The impact of alcohol and marijuana use on

academic achievement among college students

Riane M. Bolin, Margaret Pate & Jenna McClintock

To cite this article: Riane M. Bolin, Margaret Pate & Jenna McClintock (2017) The impact of
alcohol and marijuana use on academic achievement among college students, The Social Science
Journal, 54:4, 430-437, DOI: 10.1016/j.soscij.2017.08.003

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 The Social Science Journal 54 (2017) 430–437

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

The Social Science Journal

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/soscij

The impact of alcohol and marijuana use on academic

achievement among college students夽
Riane M. Bolin a,∗ , Margaret Pate b , Jenna McClintock c
a
Department of Criminal Justice, Radford University, 801 East Main Street, PO Box 6934, Radford, VA 24142, United States
b
Department of Criminal Justice, Radford University, 801 East Main Street, Radford, VA 24142, United States
c
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, University of North Carolina — Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd, Charlotte, NC
28223, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The present study explored the direct and indirect relationship between substance use,
Received 23 December 2016 specifically alcohol and marijuana use, and academic achievement among college students,
Received in revised form 3 August 2017 using skipping class as a mediator. Online self-administered surveys were distributed to
Accepted 11 August 2017
undergraduate students at a mid-size university in the southeast. Individually, both alco-
Available online 30 August 2017
hol and marijuana use significantly predicted GPA; as the frequency of students’ reported
alcohol and marijuana use increased, GPAs decreased. However, when included in the same
Keywords:
model, marijuana use appeared to mediate the relationship between alcohol use and GPA.
Alcohol use
Additionally, it was found that skipping class partially mediated the relationship between
Marijuana use
Skipping class both alcohol use and GPA and marijuana use and GPA. Given the negative relationship that
Academic achievement was found between substance use and academic achievement for all students in our sam-
ple, we highlight the importance of substance use prevention efforts that target students
throughout the entirety of their college careers. We also discuss the limitations of current
prevention efforts across college campuses that focus on alcohol use alone. We recom-
mend that prevention efforts include a focus on marijuana use, in addition to alcohol use,
especially given our current findings for marijuana use.
Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Western Social Science Association.

1. Introduction 34% reported marijuana use within the last year. Though
alcohol use remains more common among college stu-
Since the 1990s, substance use among college students dents, the trend in marijuana use has been increasing at
has been steadily increasing in the United States (Johnston, a much quicker rate. In fact, when examining daily use,
O’Malley, Bachman, Schulenberg, & Miech, 2015). The two marijuana has now surpassed alcohol with 5.9% of students
most prevalent substances being used on college campuses reporting daily use of marijuana compared to only 4.3% for
today are alcohol and marijuana. According to the most alcohol.
recent data from the 2014 Monitoring the Future survey,
approximately 76% of students reported alcohol use and 1.1. The impact of alcohol and marijuana use on
academic achievement

夽 This research was supported in part by a College Research Award from

The relative popularity of alcohol and marijuana use
the Radford University College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences.
among college students has led many researchers to
∗ Corresponding author. explore the impact that such use has on a variety of differ-
E-mail address: rbolin1@radford.edu (R.M. Bolin). ent areas of their lives including mental health (Buckner,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.soscij.2017.08.003
0362-3319/Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Western Social Science Association.
 R.M. Bolin et al. / The Social Science Journal 54 (2017) 430–437 431

Ecker, & Cohen, 2010; Perera, Torabi, & Kay, 2011), men- be a significant predictor of student success (Dobkin, Gil,
tal functioning (Caldeira, Arria, O’Grady, Vincent, & Wish, & Marion, 2010; LeBlanc, 2005; Shimoff & Catania, 2001).
2008), involvement in risky behaviors (Bell, Weschler, & Credé, Roch, and Kieszcynka (2010), for example, con-
Johnston, 1997; Brown & Vanable, 2007; Cooper, 2002; ducted a meta-analysis of the relationship between class
Shillington & Clapp, 2001), and even death (Hingson, Zha, attendance and both class grades and GPA and found that
& Weitzman, 2009; Hingson, Heeren, Zakocs, Kopstein, & class attendance was strongly correlated with both vari-
Wechsler, 2002). One area that has received less atten- ables. Based on their findings, they concluded that class
tion has been the impact of alcohol and marijuana use on attendance is a better predictor of college grades than any
academic achievement. other known predictor of academic performance. Due to
Studies have found mixed results when examining the the importance of class attendance in predicting student
relationship between alcohol use and academic achieve- success in the classroom, it can be argued that any study
ment. Some studies have found that a significant negative exploring the relationship between substance use and aca-
relationship exists, with students who reported increased demic achievement should control for this variable. More
alcohol use also reporting falling behind in class, missing specifically, we believe that it is important for studies to
class, doing poorly on exams and papers, and having lower determine whether the relationship between substance
grades/GPA (Aertgeerts & Buntinx, 2002; Burt et al., 2016; use and academic achievement is mediated by class atten-
Engs, Diebold, & Hanson, 1996; Piazza-Gardner, Barry, dance.
& Merianos, 2016; Powell, Williams, & Wechsler, 2004; To our knowledge, only three studies have been con-
Singleton, 2007; Singleton & Wolfson, 2009; Thombs et al., ducted exploring whether skipping class mediates the
2009; Wechsler et al., 2000; Wechsler et al., 2002; Wolaver, relationship between substance use and academic achieve-
2002). However, other studies have found the two were ment (Arria, Wilcox et al., 2013; Arria et al., 2015; Conway
not significantly related (El Ansari, Stock, & Mills, 2013; & DiPlacido, 2015). Utilizing a sample of first-semester
Paschall & Freisthler, 2003). college students, Conway and DiPlacido (2015) found an
The research regarding marijuana use seems to be more indirect effect of alcohol use on GPA through skipping class.
consistent. A number of academic problems appear to be In their longitudinal prospective study, Arria, Wilcox et al.
related to college student marijuana use including skip- (2013) found that skipping class mediated the relation-
ping classes (Arria, Caldeira, Bugbee, Vincent, & O’Grady, ship between both alcohol use and marijuana use and GPA.
2015; Caldeira et al., 2008), falling behind in schoolwork Specifically, they found that students who were diagnosed
(Bell et al., 1997), performing inadequately on exams with either an alcohol use or cannabis use disorder were
(Shillington & Clapp, 2001), receiving lower grades (Arria, more likely to skip class, and, in turn, were more likely to
Garnier-Dykstra et al., 2013; Arria, Wilcox et al., 2013; Arria have lower GPAs. Utilizing the same data, Arria et al. (2015)
et al., 2015; Bell et al., 1997; Buckner et al., 2010; Suerken explored both the direct and indirect relationship of mar-
et al., 2016), and even dropping out of college (Tucker, ijuana use and GPA, using skipping class as the mediator.
Ellickson, Orlando, Martino, & Klein, 2005; Suerken et al., Consistent with their previous findings, it was found that
2016). marijuana use not only had a direct impact on GPA, but an
To date, only one study has looked at the combined indirect impact through poorer class attendance as well.
effect of alcohol and marijuana use on academic perfor-
mance (Meda et al., 2017). Students were categorized into 1.3. The current study
three groups of users: (1) non-users or light users of alcohol
and marijuana, (2) moderate/large users of alcohol while The purpose of the current study is twofold. The first
being non-users or light users of marijuana, or (3) heavy purpose is to examine the relationship between sub-
users of both alcohol and marijuana. Individuals in the third stance use, specifically alcohol and marijuana use, and
group, heavy users of both alcohol and marijuana, had the academic achievement among college students. Specifi-
lowest GPA, followed by individuals in group two, those cally, the present study tests the hypothesis that college
who used alcohol in moderate/large amounts while not students who use alcohol and marijuana on more occa-
using marijuana or using marijuana in small amounts. This sions will have lower GPAs than those students who
study confirmed and added to previous literature, finding report using on fewer occasions. The second purpose is
that substance use has a negative influence on academic to expand on prior research in this area by exploring the
performance even when exploring the effects of marijuana potentially mediating role of skipping class on the relation-
and alcohol together. ship between substance use and GPA. Due to the limited
amount of research on this topic, we sought to determine
1.2. Substance use, skipping class, and academic whether findings from previous research on the relation-
achievement ship between substance use, skipping class, and GPA could
be replicated at a mid-size, public university.
While studies have sought to explore the impact of alco-
hol and marijuana use on academic achievement, many 2. Method
of these studies are flawed in that they fail to control for
a number of non-substance use related factors found to 2.1. Sample and data collection
impact student success. One particularly important vari-
able that has been largely excluded from the literature is The sample for the present study consists of under-
skipping class. Many studies have found skipping class to graduate students who were enrolled at a mid-size,
432 R.M. Bolin et al. / The Social Science Journal 54 (2017) 430–437

public university in the southeast during the Spring 2016 Table 1

Descriptive statistics for GPAa , substance use variables, and control
semester. A list of student e-mail addresses was obtained
variables.
from the campus directory in February 2016.1 At the time of
the survey, there were 8471 undergraduate students listed Frequency Percent
in the campus directory. Dependent variable
An online questionnaire was used to collect data from Cumulative GPA
the students. Prior to survey administration, the college’s .00–.99 3 0.3
1.00–1.99 18 1.8
institutional review board approved the study. All under-
2.00–2.99 262 26.5
graduate students listed in the campus directory were sent 3.00–3.99 643 66.7
an initial e-mail invitation, which contained an explana- 4.00 52 4.7
tion of the importance of the study and provided a link Independent variables
to the survey. All participants were informed that their Number of occasions of past year alcohol use
responses were anonymous and their participation volun- 0 92 10.1
tary. To further help solicit participation, a week after the 1–2 70 7.7
3–5 86 9.4
initial student e-mail was sent, an e-mail was sent to all
6–9 64 7.0
faculty members listed in the campus directory requesting 10–19 127 13.9
that they consider encouraging their students to partici- 20–39 112 12.3
pate in the study. Approximately three weeks after sending 40 or more 360 39.5
the initial survey, a final reminder e-mail containing a Number of occasions of past year marijuana use
link to the survey was sent to all students. Of the 8471 0 480 52.9
undergraduate students who were administered the sur- 1–2 95 10.5
3–5 57 6.3
vey, 1104 students responded, representing a 13% response
6–9 41 4.5
rate. However, after removing individuals with missing 10–19 33 3.6
data on the key dependent variable, GPA, and both sub- 20–39 24 2.6
stance use measures, our total sample size was 946. The 40 or more 177 19.5
final sample was approximately 33% male, 79% white, 22% Control variables

Greek affiliated, 67% upperclassman, with an average age Frequency of skipping class
of 222 (Table 1). Never 307 32.5
Rarely 448 47.4
Sometimes 174 18.4
2.2. Measures Very often 14 1.5
All of the time 3 0.3
GPA was used to indicate students’ academic achieve-
Gender
ment. To determine GPA, respondents were asked to Male 309 32.7
self-report their current cumulative GPA. We had to rely Female 634 67.0
on students’ self-report of their GPA due to the anony-
Race
mous nature of our study. Our key independent measure White 747 79.0
was substance use, specifically alcohol and marijuana use. Non-white 198 20.9
Consistent with prior studies, self-report measures of past Greek affiliation
year alcohol and marijuana use were utilized.3 Students Greek affiliation 208 22.0
were asked to report the number of occasions that they No Greek affiliation 738 78.0
had engaged in alcohol and/or marijuana use in the past 12 Class standing
Upper classmen 631 66.7
Lower classmen 315 33.3
1
It is important to note that the campus directory only contains contact
Age Mean SD
information for those students who allow their contact information to
21.9 3.8
be included; therefore, not all university student e-mail addresses could
a
be obtained. Further, as the directory is only periodically updated, it is GPA was a continuous measure; however, to more easily show the dis-
also possible that students listed in the directory were no longer at the tribution of GPAs, an ordinal variable was used to compute the descriptive
university due to graduation, transfer, dismissal, etc. statistics. The continuous measure was used for all other analyses.
2
Based upon information retrieved about the population from the uni-
versity’s fact book, t-tests were conducted which confirmed that the
sample is significantly different than the university population. Specifi-
months, based on seven response options ranging from 0
cally, females, Whites, older students, upperclassmen, and Greek affiliated occasions to 40 or more occasions. Both of these variables
students were overrepresented in our sample. Concerns about sample were treated as continuous.
representativeness are addressed in the discussion section. A number of control variables found in prior studies to
3
Response rates for alcohol use and marijuana use were 93.1% and
be related to substance use were included in the analy-
92.7%, respectively. T-tests were conducted to determine whether sig-
nificant differences existed between those who answered the question ses (Table 1) (El Ansari et al., 2013; Arria, Garnier-Dykstra
and those who did not. Significant differences were found for all variables. et al., 2013; Arria et al., 2015; Shillington & Clapp, 2001;
Specifically, those who failed to respond were more likely to be non-white, Singleton & Wolfson, 2009; Suerken et al., 2016). Self-
male, younger, an underclassman, have a lower GPA, skip class more fre- reports were used to assess all of the control variables.
quently and indicate more frequent use of marijuana (if missing alcohol)
or alcohol (if missing marijuana). In regards to Greek affiliation, individu-
Age was coded as the student’s age in years. Gender, race,
als missing alcohol data were less likely to be Greek affiliated, while those and Greek affiliation were dichotomous variables, with
missing marijuana data were more likely to be Greek affiliated. males (=1) compared to females (=0), white students (=1)
 R.M. Bolin et al. / The Social Science Journal 54 (2017) 430–437 433

Table 2
Correlation matrix of all variables (N = 978)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 GPA –
2 Alcohol use −.16*** –
3 Marijuana use −.20*** .43*** –
4 Skipping class −.27*** .25*** .29*** –
5 Male −.14*** .07* .13*** .03 –
6 White .12*** .08* −.03 .01 .05 –
7 Upper class .03 .14*** −.06 −.01 .05 .14*** –
8 Age .05 −.00 −.11** −.04 .11** .09** .37*** –
9 Greek −.03 .15*** .00 .02 −.04 .04 .08* −.02 –

*p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.

compared to non-white students (=0), and Greek affiliated marijuana. In fact, almost 53% of the sample indicated no
students (=1) compared to non-Greek affiliated students marijuana use in the past 12 months.
(=0). Class standing was based on students’ self-report of
their current class standing. Responses ranged from fresh- 3.1. Bivariate correlations
man (=1) to senior (=4). The variable was collapsed into a
dichotomous variable with juniors and seniors represent- Table 2 displays the results of the bivariate correlations.
ing upper classmen (=1) and freshmen and sophomores As expected, both alcohol and marijuana use were signif-
representing lower classmen (=0). To measure skipping icantly, negatively correlated with GPA (r = −.16, p < .001;
class, students were asked to respond, based on a five-point r = −.20, p < .001, respectively). Individuals who reported
Likert scale, to the question, “how frequently do you skip more frequent use of marijuana and/or alcohol were more
class?” Response options ranged from never (=1) to all of likely to report having a low GPA than those individuals
the time (=5). Higher scores indicate a higher frequency of who reported less frequent use. Only two of the control
skipping class. variables were significantly correlated with GPA. Individu-
als who were white and female were more likely to report
2.3. Analytic strategy having a high GPA than their counterparts. Additionally,
individuals who reported skipping class less frequently
In order to examine the relationship between sub- were more likely to report having a high GPA than those
stance use and GPA, as well as the potential mediating who reported frequently skipping class.
role of skipping class, data analysis was conducted in three
phases. In phase one, a bivariate correlation analysis was 3.2. Multivariate analysis
conducted with all of the independent, control, and depen-
dent measures. Next, three Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) In order to examine the relationship between sub-
regressions were conducted in order to further examine stance use and GPA more accurately, OLS regressions were
the relationship between each substance use variable and conducted. Table 3 presents the results for all OLS regres-
GPA, as well as the two together, when controlling for sions. Model 1 included only the alcohol use variable as
other variables. Finally, mediational analyses were con- an independent measure of substance use. The overall
ducted to determine whether skipping class mediated the model predicting GPA was significant, F (7, 869) = 16.53,
potential relationships between the substance use vari- p < .001, and explained 11.8% (R2 = .118; Adjusted R2 = .111)
ables and GPA. Utilizing the PROCESS procedure for SPSS, of the variance in GPA. As shown in the table, alcohol
all mediational analyses were ran using bias-corrected 95% use remained a significant predictor of GPA (t = −2.92,
confidence intervals via bootstrapping with 10,000 resam- p = .004), even when controlling for the other variables,
ples (Hayes, 2013). All analyses were conducted using IBM with students who reported more frequent alcohol use also
SPSS Statistics 22.0. Any individuals with missing data were reporting lower GPAs. For the control variables, only sex
automatically removed from the analysis. and race predicted GPA. Male students (t = −4.39, p < .001)
and non-white students (t = 3.74, p < .001) had lower GPAs
3. Results than their counterparts. Finally, the frequency of skip-
ping class had a significant, negative relationship with GPA
Almost 75% of the sample reported having a 3.00 or (t = −7.31, p < .001), indicating that as individuals skipped
above GPA. The average GPA for the sample was a 3.21; class more often, their GPAs tended to be lower. Of these
thus, our sample consisted largely of above average stu- variables, frequency of skipping class (ˇ = −.24) was the
dents given that the university’s average undergraduate most important predictor of GPA.
GPA during Spring 2016 was 2.928 (t = 15.76, p < .000). Similar results were found in an OLS regression pre-
Approximately 90% of the sample reported using alcohol dicting GPA with marijuana as the sole substance use
on at least one occasion during the past 12 months, with variable (Model 2). The overall model predicting GPA was
approximately 40% of the sample reporting use on 40 or significant, F (7, 870) = 17.98, p < .001, and explained 12.7%
more occasions (Table 1). As expected and consistent with (R2 = .127; Adjusted R2 = .120) of the variance in GPA. As
prior findings, substantially fewer students indicated using expected, occasions of marijuana use significantly pre-
434 R.M. Bolin et al. / The Social Science Journal 54 (2017) 430–437

Table 3
OLS regressions predicting GPA

Alcohol use (N = 870) Marijuana use (N = 871) Alcohol and marijuana use (N = 836)

b SE ˇ b SE ˇ b SE ˇ

Alcohol use −.03** .01 −.09 – – – −.01 .01 −.04

Marijuana use – – – −.03*** .01 −.12 −.02** .01 −.10
Male −.17*** .04 −.14 −.16*** .04 −.14 −.16*** .04 −.14
White .17*** .05 .13 .16*** .04 .12 .17*** .05 .12
Upper class .02 .04 .02 −.01 .04 −.01 −.00 .04 −.00
Age .01 .01 .03 .00 .01 .03 .00 .01 .02
Greek −.03 .04 −.02 −.05 .04 −.04 −.05 .04 −.04
Skipping class −.18*** .02 −.24 −.17*** .02 −.24 −.17*** .03 −.23
R2 .12 .13 .13
Adjusted R2 .11 .12 .12
F 16.29*** 17.98*** 15.01***

p < .05*, p < .01**, p < .001***.

dicted GPA (t = −3.50, p < .001); students who reported

using marijuana on more occasions also tended to report
having a lower GPA. In Model 2, all control variables found
to be significant in Model 1 remained significant and fol-
lowed the same patterns. As with Model 1, frequency of
skipping class (ˇ = −.24) remained the most important pre-
dictor of GPA.
A third regression analysis (Model 3) was conducted to
determine the effects of each substance use variable, while
controlling for the other. As expected, this model was also
significant, F (8, 835) = 15.09, p < .001), and explained 12.7%
Fig. 1. Mediation between alchol use and GPA marijuana use.
(R2 = .127; Adjusted R2 = .119) of the variance in GPA. While Notes: P < .05*, P < .01**, P < .001***.
both alcohol use and marijuana use were included as inde-
pendent measures, only marijuana use was a significant
predictor of GPA (t = −2.59, p = .01), with students who indi-
cated more frequent marijuana use reporting lower GPAs.
Similar to the regression analysis displayed in Model 2, the
control variables that were significant in Model 1 (sex, race,
and skipping class) also predicted GPA in the same direc-
tion for Model 3. Of these variables, frequency of skipping
class (ˇ = −.23) was again the most important predictor of
GPA.

3.3. Mediation analysis

Fig. 2. Mediation between alchol use and GPA by skipping class.
Notes: P < .05*, P < .01**, P < .001***.
Given that alcohol use became non-significant after
adding marijuana use to the model, the PROCESS procedure
was used to determine whether marijuana use mediated
the relationship between alcohol use and GPA. This pro-
cess revealed that marijuana use mediated the relationship
between alcohol use and GPA, ab = −.02, BCa CI [−.03,
−.01]. (Fig. 1). Specifically, it was found that marijuana use
accounted for a little less than half of the total effect of
alcohol use on GPA, PM = .45.
In order to better understand the relationship between
alcohol use and GPA, we tested skipping class as a media-
tor. The mediational analysis revealed that the frequency of
skipping class partially mediated the relationship between Fig. 3. Mediation between marijuana use and GPA by skipping class.
Notes: P < .05*, P < .01**, P < .001***.
alcohol use and GPA, ab = −.02, BCa CI [−.02, −.01]. Skipping
class accounted for approximately 40% of the total effect of
alcohol use on GPA, PM = .37 (Fig. 2). rect effect of marijuana use on GPA through the frequency
Similarly, we wanted to explore whether the relation- of skipping class, ab = −.02, BCa CI [−.02, −.01]. Skipping
ship between marijuana use and GPA was mediated by the class accounted for approximately 35% of the total effect of
frequency of skipping class. There was a significant indi- marijuana use on GPA, PM = .33 (Fig. 3).
 R.M. Bolin et al. / The Social Science Journal 54 (2017) 430–437 435

4. Discussion considered socially desirable (Akinci, Tarter, & Kirisci,

2001; Gruenewald & Johnson, 2006; Harrison & Hughes,
In the present study, we examined the relationship 1997). Previous research has also found that self-reported
between alcohol and marijuana on students’ self-reported GPAs tend to be rounded up or inflated by those with lower
GPA. We did this by conducting separate OLS regression academic performance (Kuncel, Crede, & Thomas, 2005).
analyses with alcohol use and marijuana use as predic- However, it was necessary to use self-reported measures
tors, as well as conducting an OLS regression with both for our study to ensure anonymity. Guaranteed anonymity
substances included as predictors. It was found that both may have encouraged participants to be more honest with
alcohol and marijuana use impacted students’ GPA. When their responses (Durant, Carey, & Schroder, 2002; Ong &
analyzed independent of one another, both alcohol and Weiss, 2000).
marijuana use were found to be negatively related to GPA. Additionally, it is possible that student recall could be
Specifically, consistent with prior research, it was found affected due to the timeframe in which they were asked to
that college students who reported using alcohol or mar- recall their substance use. However, the present study pur-
ijuana on more occasions tended to also report having posefully utilized past year use because we were interested
lower GPAs (Arria et al., 2015; Bell et al., 1997; Buckner in exploring student trends in alcohol and marijuana use.
et al., 2010; Engs et al., 1996; Singleton, 2007; Singleton & Past thirty-day use limits the ability to accurately assess
Wolfson, 2009; Suerken et al., 2016; Wechsler et al., 2000; trends (Greenfield, 2000; Stockwell et al., 1999) and life-
Wechsler et al., 2002; Wolaver, 2002). However, when time use may have a significant impact on student recall
both alcohol and marijuana use were included in the same (Cantor, 1984, 1985). Researchers have recommended
regression, the effects of alcohol became non-significant. using longer reference periods (past year) for assessing
This non-significance confirmed the need for additional substance use behaviors in countries such as the United
analyses to explore the potential mediating effects of mari- States (Dawson, 2003); thus, consistent with prior studies,
juana use on the relationship between alcohol use and GPA. we decided to use past year use. Future research should
Marijuana use accounted for just less than half of the explore whether these same relationships exist when look-
total effect of alcohol use on GPA. The mediation would sug- ing at both shorter and longer timeframes.
gest that individuals who use alcohol are also more likely Another limitation of the present study is that several
to use marijuana, which further impacts their academic factors that previous studies have found to be correlated
achievement. Surprisingly, alcohol use did not mediate with academic performance were not included such as
the relationship between marijuana use and GPA. The employment (Trockel, Barnes, & Egget, 2000), socioeco-
data for the current study were collected through a cross- nomic status (Mushtaq & Khan, 2012), time spent studying
sectional design, so it is difficult to establish a time order. (Lahmers & Zulauf, 2000), time management (Lahmers &
Future research should explore the potential impact both Zulauf, 2000), study habits and skills (Nonis & Hudson,
substances have on one another, and on academic achieve- 2010), etc. This may explain why our predictors only
ment, in a longitudinal design. To date, only one study has explained a small percentage of the variance in GPA. Future
looked at the comorbidity of alcohol and marijuana use on studies may benefit from the inclusion of a more compre-
academic achievement (Meda et al., 2017). hensive set of predictors.
Another purpose of this study was to continue research A final limitation is our limited generalizability because
exploring the mechanisms by which substances influence we recruited participants from only one university. We also
academic achievement. Previous research has found that only received responses from a small number of the univer-
the relationship between alcohol use and GPA is medi- sity’s students, which further decreases the generalizability
ated by time spent studying (Williams, Powell, & Wechsler, of the results. However, our results are consistent with
2003; Wolaver, 2002). Similarly, more recent research has other studies on this topic. Our sample may also be lim-
found that the relationship between marijuana use and ited due to selection bias; heavy substance users or those
GPA, as well as alcohol use and GPA, is mediated by class with poor grades may have been more reluctant to partic-
attendance (Arria, Wilcox et al., 2013; Arria et al., 2015; ipate in the study (McCoy et al., 2009). Finally, our sample
Conway & DiPlacido, 2015). Through meditational analy- has limited generalizability to the population from which
ses, we found that skipping class partially mediated the it was drawn. Only 13% of the population responded to
effects of alcohol use on GPA, accounting for approximately the survey and as noted in the footnote above, the sample
40% of the relationship, which shows that alcohol use nega- was significantly different from the population on key fac-
tively affects GPA partially because it leads students to skip tors such as sex, race, and Greek affiliation. Future research
class more frequently. Similarly, skipping class partially should consider using students from several universities,
mediated the effects of marijuana use on GPA, account- both public and private, located in different geographi-
ing for approximately 35% of the relationship. Overall, it cal areas in order to further increase generalizability. The
was found that both substances both directly and indirectly use of incentives may also be beneficial in increasing par-
affected GPA. ticipation, reducing selection bias, and ensuring that a
Several limitations should be considered when inter- more representative sample is drawn from each univer-
preting these results. One limitation of the study is that sity (Church, 1993; Edwards et al., 2002; Olsen, Abelsen, &
we used self-reported measures of substance use, GPA, Olsen, 2012).
and skipping class. It is possible that alcohol/marijuana Given the negative relationship that was found
use as well as the frequency of skipping class were under- between substance use and academic achievement, our
reported due to the fact that these behaviors are not study highlights the importance of prevention efforts
436 R.M. Bolin et al. / The Social Science Journal 54 (2017) 430–437

on college campuses. Such efforts may help to reduce Arria, A. M., Caldeira, K. M., Bugbee, B. A., Vincent, K. B., & O’Grady,
academic failure and thus increase student retention K. E. (2015). The academic consequences of marijuana use dur-
ing college. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 29(3), 564–575.
(Arria, Garnier-Dykstra et al., 2013; Arria, Wilcox et al., http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/adb0000108
2013; Liguori & Lonbaken, 2015; Martinez et al., 2009; Arria, A. M., Caldeira, K. M., O’Grady, K. E., Vincent, K. B., Fitzelle, D. B., John-
Williams et al., 2003). Often, prevention efforts are largely son, E. P., & Wish, E. D. (2008). Drug exposure opportunities and use
patterns among college students: Results of a longitudinal prospective
aimed at incoming freshmen due to their increased risk cohort study. Substance Abuse, 29, 19–38.
of problematic drinking and drug use behaviors (Grekin Arria, A. M., Garnier-Dykstra, L. M., Calderira, K. M., Vincient, K. B., Winick,
& Sher, 2006; Lewis, Neighbors, Oster-Aaland, Kirkeby, E. R., & O’Grady, K. E. (2013). Drug use patterns and continuous enroll-
ment in college: Results form a longitudinal study. Journal of Studies
Larimer, 2007; Schulenberg & Maggs, 2002; Thompson
on Alcohol and Drugs, 74, 71–83.
et al., 2006). For example, many colleges require incom- Arria, A. M., Wilcox, H. C., Caldeira, K. M., Vincent, K. B., Garnier-
ing freshman to complete online educational programs Dykstra, L. M., & O’Grady, K. E. (2013). Dispelling the myth of smart
drugs: Cannabis and alcohol use problems predict nonmedical use
such as AlcoholEdu, which teaches students about
of prescription stimulants for studying. Addictive Behaviors, 38(3),
the risks of engaging in alcohol and substance use 1643–1650.
(https://everfi.com/higher-education-old/alcoholedu/). Bell, R., Weschler, H., & Johnston, L. D. (1997). Correlates of college stu-
However, substance use initiation is not limited to fresh- dent marijuana use: Results of a US national survey. Addiction, 92(5),
571–581.
men; thus, prevention efforts should be focused on the Brown, J. L., & Vanable, P. A. (2007). Alcohol use, partner type, and risky
student body as a whole in order to increase retention. sexual behavior among college students: Findings from an event-level
Many campuses also focus their prevention efforts study. Addictive Behaviors, 32(12), 2940–2952.
Buckner, J. D., Ecker, A. D., & Cohen, A. S. (2010). Mental health problems
solely on the dangers of alcohol use (U.S. Department of and interest in marijuana treatment among marijuana using college
Education, 2008); however, consistent with prior research, students. Addictive Behaviors, 35(9), 826–833.
our study confirms the need to also target marijuana users Burt, T. D., Yadon, C. A., Young-Jones, A. D., Carr, M. T., & Johnston, K. H.
(2016). Satisfaction does not equal success: College alcohol use and
who may be at risk for poor academic achievement. As basic psychological needs. College Student Affairs Journal, 34(1), 3–16.
marijuana becomes more readily available and more states Caldeira, K. M., Arria, A. M., O’Grady, K. E., Vincent, K. B., & Wish,
legalize it, it will be important for colleges to consider E. D. (2008). The occurrence of cannabis use disorders and other
cannabis-related problems among first-year college students. Addic-
how to implement appropriate prevention and interven-
tive Behaviors, 33, 397–411.
tion strategies for this particular drug, in addition to alcohol Cantor, D. (1984). Comparing bounded and unbounded three and six month
and other drugs that are popular on college campuses. reference periods in rate estimation. Washington, D.C: Bureau of Social
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In addition to implementing campus wide prevention
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programs for both alcohol and marijuana use, another the NCS reference period. In Proceedings of the American Statistical
potential solution to help negate the negative impact of Association, social statistics section (pp. 125–137).
substance use on academic achievement is screening stu- Church, A. H. (1993). Estimating the effect of incentives on mail survey
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Marlatt et al., 1998). Due to the fact that students often on GPA in first-semester college students: The mediating role of aca-
develop substance use patterns prior to entering college demic effort. Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory &
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vening appropriately may help to increase their likelihood lege students and youth: Evaluating the evidence. Journal of Studies
of academic success (Arria et al., 2015). Based upon the on Alcohol, (Supp. (4)), 101–117.
Credé, M., Roch, S. G., & Kieszczynka, U. M. (2010). Class attendance in
findings from our study, we also recommend screening college: A meta-analytic review of the relationship of class atten-
students for drug use problems who are experiencing aca- dance with grades and student characteristics. Review of Educational
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risk could then be referred to the counseling and/or health
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