The Impact of Alcohol on GPAs

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The Impact of Alcohol on GPAs

Dr. Bruce Friesen asked students in his Introduction to Sociology (SOC 12050) class to conduct a survey of Kent Stark students concerning their drinking habits and GPA's. Students were then required to interpret the data and control a third variable. The assignment was accomplished by responding to seven prepared questions and data tables provided on Dr. Friesen’s assignment sheet. In The Impact of Alcohol on Grade Point Averages, Sam Galluch concludes that drinking, particularly in males, does have a significant impact on grade point averages.

1. The effect of alcohol on grade point averages is an intriguing topic for many young people. The Introduction to Sociology class stated the hypothesis that the consumption of alcohol has a negative effect on the grade point averages of college students who drink more than three beverages at a time. Simply stated, the more alcohol a person drinks, the lower his/her grades will be. In this case, the amount of alcohol being consumed is the independent variable, while the grade point average is the dependent variable. Henslin’s Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach states that “Drinking alcohol is directly related to college grades…the more that college students drink, the worse they do in classes” (Henslin, 1998: 545).

The relationship between the variables of alcohol and grades can be explained through the sociological theory of Robert Merton, termed the Self-fulfilling Prophecy. This phenomenon occurs when “an originally false assertion becomes true simply because it was predicted” (Henslin, 1998: 481). In accordance with this term, one could theorize that a student who has been picked as an “underachiever” by a professor might unknowingly increas...

... middle of paper ...

...if any variance in the grades of the two groups occurred.

7. From a scientific point of view, the results are not generalizable because the data was collected through a sample of convenience, using students at the Stark branch of Kent State University as the population. Therefore, the data represents only the specific individuals that were interviewed, not the entire population of Kent Stark. As stated in the text book, such data “will produce unrepresentative results in each case” (Henslin, 1998: 125). In general, the class hypothesis was proven correct, as alcohol usually has negative effects on grade point averages. Unfortunately, this data was not obtained in a representative sample, making it applicable only to those students that were studied.

Work Cited

Henslin, James. 1998. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 4th edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

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