The survey consisted of 153 questions concerning demographic characteristics, substance use, other risk behaviors, and the impulsive sensation seeking scale (ImpSS) from the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire.36 For these analyses, questions assessing alcohol and cigarette use behaviors, family history of alcohol problems and the ImpSS scale were used. To assess alcohol use, participants were asked if they had ever had a “full” drink of alcohol; students who responded yes were asked a series of questions about their current alcohol use patterns. The variables chosen from the set on alcohol use behaviors were the number of days the students consumed alcohol in the past month (recoded into groups of 0 days, 1 or 2 days, 3 to 9 days and 10 or more days of alcohol use) and whether the participant had any alcohol binge use episodes in the past month (a binge was defined as “5 or more drinks of alcohol in a row” or five or more drinks “within a couple of hours”). Tobacco use was assessed as any past month use; for the combined assessment of concomitant alcohol and
