The purpose of our study is to get a better understanding of how a complex array of risk and protective factors work together to predict substance use problems and potentially co-occurring depression and anxiety in the transition into and of college. This project is led by Dr. Diana Samek, Associate Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Auburn University (AU). The
original AU College Experience Study started with just over 200 freshman college students (90% white, 62% female) completed a detailed survey for us in 2015-2016. The survey assessed a multitude of topics, covering substance use, depression, delinquency, peer factors, family support, romantic relationship experiences, personality, and more. The survey took one to two hours on average to complete. The vast majority of those students completed a follow-up study in 2016-2017 and in 2019-2020. Results showed that personality traits related to negative emotionality and factors such as stress and sleep in the first year of college were most relevant to predicting stable depressive symptoms. Alternatively, peer and romantic relationship factors, including how often they drank alcohol in the first year of college were most relevant to predicting stable alcohol use disorder symptoms. Further, depressive symptoms and alcohol use disorder symptoms were more likely to occur together in the transition out of rather than into college. PI Samek suggested these results support approaches that target those at high risk for such outcomes and offer personally-tailored feedback to educate students on these issues and connect them to resources (see Samek & Akua, 2022: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jad.12068). Our most recent project, occurring in Fall of 2021 through Spring of 2024, aims to over-sample first-year students of color (70% BIPOC) from our predominantly white institution in order to better understand how unique factors regarding campus climate, experiences of microaggressions, stress, sleep and other factors work together to predict mental health and potentially co-occurring substance use problems in historically-excluded vs. We hope expect to amplify the voices and experiences of students of color in effort to better serve and support them in their transition through college. Altogether, our work is expected to support larger and bolder research studies and inform innovative targeted prevention and intervention efforts to help adolescents and young adults most at risk for chronic mental health problems that co-occur with problematic substance use. We provide a resource list with local and national services and helplines to all of our study participants. We also provide fun facts and relevant stats via social media pages, as well as supportive resources (e.g., web links to learn more), links and explanations to all scientific research articles published that used data from the College Experiences Study, and celebrations of graduate students graduation that used data from the College Experiences Study to complete their Master's, Qualifying Exam, or Dissertation requirements
In closing, it’s important that we understand what experiences are most troubling to adolescents and young adults as they phase through major life transitions so that we can try to do more to help them. Substance use is most common in the early adult years and depression and anxiety are becoming increasingly common at this time. Identifying risk and protective factors for time-limited versus long term psychopathology should help us better to understand this population. If you have any questions about the study, please feel free to contact Dr. Diana R. Samek, the Principal Investigator of the study and Associate Professor at Auburn University ([email protected]). Colleagues and administrators interested in partnering with Dr. Samek on this should contact her directly. She would love to develop thorough collaborations with other colleges, universities, and schools. Thank you for your interest in our study! We will keep you up to date on our future plans!
