Risky behaviors and college success (2).docx - RISKY...

RISKY BEHAVIORS AND COLLEGE SUCCESS
How Risky Behaviors Affect College Success
SLS 1501
University of Central Florida
By Shay Fincher

RISKY BEHAVIORS AND COLLEGE SUCCESS
Introduction
First-year success as a college student is affected by a multitude of variables. The most
important of which is your ability to make good decisions while under stress. College is often the
first-time many freshman students undergo immense stress, knowing how to deal with it is the
key to doing well in college. Students who come into college unequipped to balance their
studies along with their social life often fall into a thread of bad decision making, this includes
but is not limited to binge drinking , unsafe sex, drug abuse, and skipping class, along with other
risky behaviors. According to Conway, J.M. & Diplacito, J. (2015) “College students either
manage their time in a healthy way that promotes success or make choices that get in their way
of success”. With 30% of first-year college students failing to return for their second year of
college it is important to discuss the negative consequences of risky decision making when
discussing college success.
Theme 1: College creates an environment that can lead to bad decision making
College is often the first time young adults venture into world by themselves with limited
parietal oversight. It is important to have healthy coping mechanisms as well as having
developed impulse control before going into college in order to avoid risky decision making.
LaBrie, J.W., Kenney, S.R., Migliuri, S. & Lac, A. (2010) questioned whether sexually
experienced first-year college females were more likely than their same age unexperienced
counterparts to participate in risky behaviors. The research found that social drinking was more
common is first-year college students and first-year college students are exceptionally vulnerable
when it comes to making risky decisions, this is due to their newfound independence along with
the persuasive alcohol-based social setting colleges provides. Social drinking is common in

RISKY BEHAVIORS AND COLLEGE SUCCESS
colleges as it provides venues to network and establish friendships in a new environment. Labrie
and his colleagues found that sexually experienced first-year college females were more likely to
engage in risky behaviors, even those not involving sex and that sexually experienced first-year
college females drank more often and larger quantities during the month transitioning into
college than did their sexually inexperienced peers. They concluded that students that have