Date of Award

8-2026

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

School

Psychology

Committee Chair

Bonnie Nicholson

Committee Chair School

Psychology

Committee Member 2

Michael Madson

Committee Member 2 School

Psychology

Committee Member 3

Eric Dahlen

Committee Member 3 School

Psychology

Committee Member 4

Morgan Eckenrod

Committee Member 4 School

Kinesiology and Nutrition

Abstract

Hazardous drinking among college students has been a long-standing public health concern, with particular focus on student-athletes given their report of greater frequency and quantity of alcohol consumed. With the dual-role (i.e., student and athlete) of student-athletes, research has supported the comorbidity of mental health problems and alcohol outcomes, with drinking motives as an influential factor. Additionally, sport-related drinking motives may play a unique role, providing additional understanding of these relationships. No research to date has explicitly examined these variables despite the latest initiatives on student-athletes’ mental health and well-being. Thus, this study explored the mediating role of drinking motives, both general and sport-related, in the relationship between mental health and alcohol outcomes, to determine if these relationships differed by seasonal status. Athletic administration and support staff from 1,758 universities (e.g., National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA)) across the United States were contacted to recruit student-athletes (N = 211; Mage = 20.53). Participants provided demographic information and completed measures of mental health symptoms, hazardous drinking, negative consequences, and drinking motives. Significant findings were evident when drinking motives were separated into two models. Conformity and coping drinking motives mediated the relationship between mental health symptoms and negative consequences, whereas social and coping drinking motives mediated the relationship between mental health symptoms and hazardous drinking. However, invariance testing was not supported across all models. Results suggested that exploring general drinking motives and sport-related drinking motives separately from one another may be the most advantageous way to understanding the drinking behaviors among student-athletes. Given the novelty of this study, further research is encouraged to better understand the relationships among these variables within this under-researched and high-risk population, particularly among more diverse samples.

ORCID ID

0009-0007-3214-7225

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Available for download on Friday, January 01, 2027

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