Parental attitudes linked to college binge drinking

 

 College students who binge drink may be acting on influences they brought from home, a new Washington State University-led study suggests.

A recent survey shows that students who binge drink more than other students tend to have grown up in a home with more permissive attitudes toward drinking. Those students are also more likely to join Greek-affiliated organizations like fraternities or sororities.

In a study published in the journal Behavioral Sciences, researchers surveyed parents and students about drinking attitudes and behaviors, especially binge drinking. They found that parents of students who joined fraternities or sororities were more permissive of alcohol use prior to students leaving home for college.

“Previous research has shown that greater parental permissiveness, or approval, of student drinking is linked to greater alcohol use among college students,” said Kristi Morrison, lead author on the paper and a PhD student in WSU’s prevention science program. “We explored the relationship between parental approval and student Greek affiliation and found that parents of students who join Greek organizations tend to be more permissive of binge drinking even before their students come to college.”

Students who join fraternities or sororities are at a higher risk of binge drinking and the negative consequences, such alcohol poisoning, blacking out, and more, that can follow, Morrison said.

“Understanding risk factors, like parental permissiveness, gives us targets for interventions that can reduce risky behavior,” she said.

Morrison and her co-authors asked parents, both before their students left for college and during their first year of college, how wrong they felt it would be if their student engaged in “heavy episodic drinking,” defined as four or more alcoholic drinks on one occasion for women and five or more for men. The researchers also asked students about their perception of their parents’ permissiveness.

“The initial transition to college is a very high-risk time,” said Jennifer Duckworth, paper co-author and assistant professor in WSU’s Department of Human Development. “Studies like this can help universities identify areas where interventions can be developed and implemented to reduce binge drinking.”

Morrison and Duckworth suggest that parenting programs that encourage parents to set clear guidelines, especially before students leave home, support their children’s decision-making, and talk about the risks of binge drinking could positively impact students. They pointed to the Letting Go and Staying Connected program, which originated at WSU and has spread to nine other universities across Washington, as an important tool for educating parents.

“Risk factors look different across groups,” Duckworth said. “Parental permissiveness is one risk factor that can be changed relatively easily. It’s important to help parents think about what it means to be less permissive toward alcohol use. When parents talk with their children about the risks of binge drinking and set clear expectations, it can have a real impact. Even after students leave home, parents continue to play a powerful role in shaping how young adults approach drinking.”

Even well-intentioned efforts to promote “safe” drinking can sometimes send the wrong message, signaling that binge drinking is acceptable.

“Parents may think having their teens drink at home in a protected environment is safer, but it conveys an approval of alcohol use,” said Morrison, who plans to earn her doctorate in two years. “Research shows that when parents are less approving of alcohol use, students tend to drink less.”

Additional co-authors on the paper include Brittany Cooper and Laura Hill from WSU, Matthew Bumpus from the Innovia Foundation, and Martie Skinner and Kevin Haggerty from the University of Washington.

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Journal

Behavioral Sciences

DOI

10.3390/bs15111488 

Note- taking alone or combined with large language models helps students understand and remember better

 

A new study suggests that traditional learning activities like making notes remain critical for students’ reading comprehension and retention, while also suggesting that large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT or Microsoft Copilot, could be a useful tool for helping students clarify, explore, and contextualise learning material.

Although many students are already using LLMs, there is a lack of research on the impact of generative AI on the fundamental processes of learning.

The study by Cambridge University Press & Assessment and Microsoft Research, which is published today (Thursday) in the journal Computers & Education , is one of the first randomised classroom experiments to investigate how LLMs affect students’ reading comprehension and retention.

The research involved 405 secondary school students aged 14-15 attending seven different schools across England.

The students were asked to study texts covering topics from the UK’s national History curriculum: one about apartheid in South Africa, and the other about the Cuban missile crisis.

The students were divided into two groups. One group was asked to study one text with an LLM (ChatGPT 3.5 turbo) and another text by writing notes. The second group was also asked to study one of the texts with the LLM, but, for the other text, they were asked to combine using the LLM and making notes. In all LLM conditions, students were given a brief tutorial and allowed to use the tool however they liked.

Three days later, and without advance warning, the students were asked questions about the two texts designed to see how well they understood and remembered the information. For example: What horrific event happened at the Soweto Youth Uprising in 1976? And: Explain the role of the Soviet Union in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

After both the study and test sessions, students were asked about the task, for example whether they enjoyed it or found it interesting.

The results suggest that either making notes or making notes combined with using an LLM, are better than just using the LLM alone for helping students understand and remember new information. However, students enjoyed using the LLM to engage with and explore relevant topics beyond the text.

The study’s first author, Dr Pia Kreijkes, a senior researcher at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, UK, said: “We know that students are using chatbots and other AI tools, including to help them with their schoolwork. However, there has been very limited research on how LLM use influences students’ ability to understand and remember information. Our study shows that students enjoyed using AI chatbots but note taking was more effective for learning outcomes

“Our findings can help guide the use of LLMs for learning. In particular, they indicate that students should take notes separately from using LLMs to avoid copying the LLM. They also indicate that students should receive training and guidance on how to use LLMs to support active and constructive learning.”

“Teachers could also benefit from their students’ use of LLMs. For example, in the future, teachers may be able to leverage insights from students’ LLM interactions to understand where support is needed and tailor class materials accordingly.” 

Dr Jake Hofman Senior Principal Researcher from Microsoft Research said: “I was struck by how many students used the LLM to try to deepen their understanding — asking about historical context, clarifying unfamiliar references, and exploring the significance of key events. Rather than viewing traditional learning techniques, like note-taking, and newer generative-AI approaches as competing alternatives, we should view them as complementary.”
 

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Journal

Computers & Education

DOI

10.1016/j.compedu.2025.105514 

Global study backs mandatory strength warm-ups for female athletes

 

Routine strength exercise warm-ups should be mandated to reduce leg injuries in female athletes across all ages and levels of competitive sport, according to a new set of global recommendations co-led by La Trobe University, the University of Calgary and supported by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  

Published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, the Female, woman, girl Athlete Injury pRevention (FAIR) Consensus Statement offers 56 practical recommendations to reduce injury risk and improve safety.  

The recommendations span policy reform, training, personal protective equipment, secondary prevention, implementation strategies and the creation of gender/sex-specific supportive sport environments. 

Co-author Professor Kay Crossley, Director of La Trobe University’s Sports and Exercise Medicine Research Centre, said the FAIR recommendations offered a roadmap for athletes, parents, coaches and sports administrators, which could be adapted to different settings and cultures. 

“This world-leading initiative recognises the unique injury risks faced by female athletes and provides clear, actionable guidance for everyone involved in sport, from grassroots to elite levels,” Professor Crossley said. 

Recommendations include: 

• Mandated sport-specific strength, balance and control (neuromuscular) exercises for a minimum of 10 minutes, twice a week to prevent first-time and repeat leg injuries.  

• Enforced fair play by disallowing dangerous contact to reduce injuries of all kinds. 

• Knee braces should not be used to prevent first-time knee injuries, including anterior cruciate tears. Semi-rigid ankle braces should be used to prevent first-time and repeat sprains.  

• Mandated mouthguards in collision sports to prevent concussion and dental injuries. 

• Encouragement of properly fitted sports bras to reduce breast discomfort and skin irritation.  

• Shared responsibility among sport partners for creating spaces where female, woman and girl athletes’ safety and wellbeing is front of mind and non-negotiable.  

• Create safe spaces free from body shaming, idealised body types and gendered norms. 

Estimates suggest only 22 per cent of Australian women aged 15 years and over participated in a sport-related activity at least once a week. Women and girls often face gendered barriers in sport that can affect their safety, participation and performance.  

“The rates of sport participation and injuries in girls’ sport are increasing and many girls that get injured from sport don’t return,” said co-author Professor Carolyn Emery, from the University of Calgary’s Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre.  

Dr Jane Thornton, IOC’s Director of Health, Medicine and Science said the mandate of the Department is to promote and protect athlete health, in sport and through sport. Convening consensus meetings to produce global recommendations for injury and illness prevention such as the FAIR recommendations are a priority for the IOC. 

“There is a significant data gap in terms of how female athlete health data are collected and represented in research and policy. Injury and illness rates are disproportionately high and female athlete health has risen to be among the top five priorities for international sport federations.” 

Professor Crossley said many females, women and girls trained and competed in environments that were not set up for their success.  

“Targeted action is needed to educate sports partners and improve access to injury-prevention programs, good sporting facilities and resources that are supported by sufficient funding. 

“The FAIR Consensus helps address this gap by offering tools to protect female, woman and girl athletes’ health, extend careers and promote lifelong participation. We all have a role to play in creating safer, more inclusive sports environments where women and girls can thrive.” 

Nearly 2.2 million U.S. adolescents aged 12–17 met the criteria for at least one substance use disorder

 

Effective, evidence-based treatments for adolescents with substance use disorder are lacking

According to national estimates, nearly 2.2 million U.S. adolescents aged 12–17 met the criteria for at least one substance use disorder (SUD) in 2023. Drug and alcohol- related concerns are the second leading cause of death and disability within this age group and the third leading cause of death for children nationally. For opioid, alcohol and nicotine use disorders, national experts recommend a comprehensive treatment approach that includes both medication-based and behavioral interventions. For opioid use disorder, medication is the recommended first-line treatment. Nonetheless, access to medication among adolescents with SUD remains extremely limited.

 

In a new review in the Journal of Addiction Medicine, researchers from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine found that very little research has been done to investigate and inform the use of medications for SUD in people under the age of 18, particularly those identifying as racial, gender and sexual minorities. These findings underscore the urgent need for additional research into medication treatments for diverse youth with SUD and for additional policy and funding initiatives to support its realization.

 

“The results of this study highlight a gap in the research informing medication options for adolescents with SUD. While these findings weren’t entirely unexpected, they definitely highlight how little concrete evidence pediatric clinicians currently have to draw from when trying to help their patients through the SUD recovery process,” explained corresponding author Clare Westerman, a third-year medical student at the school.

The researchers performed a review to identify published papers and randomized-controlled trials of medications for SUD that were available between January 1, 1999, and December 4, 2024, and included at least one participant aged 13–17, with none aged 26 years or older. Key study characteristics were extracted and analyzed to identify trends in design, medications tested and participant diversity.

 

Even when including options for six different substance use disorders, the researchers identified only 36 studies meeting inclusion criteria during the past 25 years. None of the studies focused on benzodiazepine use disorder. A 2019 NIH study found the use of these drugs by high school seniors more than doubled over the past two decades. Although the collection and reporting of demographic-related factors were inconsistent, the demographic data available demonstrated low participation in the studies by individuals aged younger than 18, racial/ethnic minorities and gender-diverse youth.

 

“We know that certain medications can be life-changing in adults and have some good initial data to show that they can have a similar impact for adolescents, but their widespread use is limited by a lack of concrete data to draw from when making recommendations,” says senior author Sarah Bagley, MD, associate professor medicine at the school and a primary care physician at Boston Medical Center. “We hope that our findings can serve as a call to action for researchers, policymakers, general pediatricians, and psychiatrists/addiction medicine specialists to consider the role of medication treatment for SUD in appropriate patients and to champion more research in this area to ensure that all people with SUD have access to the evidence-based treatment that they deserve,” she said.

School Cell Phone Bans and Student Achievement

An all-day cell phone ban within a Florida school district improved test scores, particularly for male students and in middle and high schools.

Two years after the imposition of a student cell phone ban, student test scores in a large urban school district were significantly higher than before, David N. Figlio and Umut Özek find in The Impact of Cell Phone Bans in Schools on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Florida (NBER Working Paper 34388). The study examines data from one of the 10 largest school districts in the United States, a large urban county-level school district in Florida. While Florida's statewide law banned cell phone use during instructional time, this district implemented a stricter policy requiring students to keep phones silenced and stored in backpacks during the entire school day, including lunch and transitions between classes.

The researchers combined two datasets to conduct this analysis. First, they accessed student administrative data for the year prior to the ban (AY 2022–23) and two years following the ban (AY 2023–24 and AY 2024–25). These data are reported to the district three times annually and include information on student demographics, attendance, disciplinary actions, and standardized test scores. Second, they examined building-level smartphone activity data from Advan for district schools. This data traced the average number of unique smartphone pings between 9 am and 1 pm on school days. To isolate the effects of student usage, the team compared normal school days to professional-only working days. They then compared the last two months of AY 2022–23 (pre-ban) to the first two months of AY 2023–24 and AY 2024–25 (post-ban) and found an average drop in usage of approximately two-thirds. The relative level of usage reduction was used to sort the district's schools into high-effect (top tercile of pre-ban usage) and low-effect (bottom tercile of pre-ban usage) pools.

During the first month of the ban (September 2023), student suspensions rose 25 percent relative to the same month of the prior school year. Elevated disciplinary rates persisted for the full school year. The effects were particularly stark among Black male students, whose in-school suspension rates increased 30 percent at the highly affected schools. Even among the most affected schools and population groups, however, disciplinary action rates fell to near pre-ban levels by the start of the following school year. The researchers posited that this represented a period of adjustment to the new policy rather than an indication of a long-term negative effect of the ban's implementation.

There were no statistically significant changes in test scores during the first year of the ban, when disciplinary rates were high. During the second year of the ban, in contrast, test scores increased significantly, with positive effects concentrated during the spring semester (scores increased 1.1 percentiles, on average). The researchers suggest that this may be due to the higher stakes of spring tests, which can affect grade advancement and high school graduation. Test score improvements were also concentrated among male students (up 1.4 percentiles, on average) and among middle and high school students (up 1.3 percentiles, on average).

When comparing high-effect and low-effect schools, the researchers note significant reductions in unexcused absences during the two years following the cell phone ban. They posit that increased attendance could explain as much as half of the test score improvements noted in their primary analysis.

— Emma Salomon

Labor Market Strength and Declining Community College Enrollment

 Declining U.S. college enrollments over the past 15 years have triggered questions about the health of the postsecondary sector. Using institution-level data, this study makes four points. 

First, such declines are driven not by the four-year sector but by two-year community colleges, which have apparently shrunk by over 30% since the peak of the Great Recession. 

Second, over one-third of this apparent decline is an artifact of some community colleges being reclassified as offering four-year degrees. 

Third, pre-Great Recession data shows a 1 percentage point increase in the local unemployment rate increases first-time community college enrollment by 2 percent, suggesting many students are on the margin between community college and job opportunities. For-profit college enrollments are similarly countercyclical, while public and private four-year college enrollments appear acyclical. The authors' estimates suggest that strengthening labor markets explain about 60% of the post-Great Recession decline in first-time community college enrollment. 

Fourth, students whose enrollment decisions are most sensitive to labor market conditions appear unlikely to have completed a degree. Though declining community college enrollments are a challenge for postsecondary institutions, it is less clear whether they signal a problem for students on the margin of enrollment.

Training MBA students to listen effectively significantly boosts their ability to lead with integrity

 A simple shift in business education, training MBA students to listen effectively, can significantly boost their humility and ability to lead with integrity, according to a new study from the University of Surrey.

The study, published in the Journal of Business Ethics, challenges the long-held assumption that character cannot be taught. Business schools have been accused of inflating hubris in managers, but Surrey researchers in collaboration with colleagues in the US and in Israel found that humility – a quality linked with effective leadership, stronger teams and more ethical behaviour – can be cultivated through focused listening training. 

Over four years, 260 MBA students took part in a quasi-experiment. Some attended a “listening-focused” course built around exercises such as storytelling, feedback interviews, and reflection circles, while a control group took traditional lecture-based modules. Students in the listening course not only reported greater improvements in listening skills but also scored higher in multiple measures of humility, compared to their peers. 

Dr Irina Cojuharenco, co-author of the study and Associate Professor in Management at Surrey Business School, said: 

“Many assume humility is an innate trait – you either have it, or you don’t. What our research shows is that humility can be taught, and listening is the key. When future leaders learn to listen deeply, they also learn to acknowledge their limitations, value others’ contributions, and make more ethical choices. That’s not just a personal skill; it’s the foundation for creating value in business.” 

However, the researchers uncovered a striking pattern during the pandemic. When the listening course had to be taught online, students still improved their listening skills – but their humility did not increase. This suggests that humility is more effectively cultivated through face-to-face experiences of listening, where nuance, trust, and connection can develop in ways that video conferencing struggles to replicate. 

Dr Cojuharenco continued: 

“The contrast highlights a wider concern for organisations that rely heavily on remote working.  Online communication may make it more challenging to create the kinds of interpersonal connections that foster humility, which in turn could complicate efforts to nurture ethical and empathetic leadership cultures in digital-first environments. 

“Embedding structured, in-person listening practice into MBA curricula could help produce leaders whose commercial achievements stem from integrity and care.”