The 26 public and private colleges participating in Partners in Prevention (PIP), Missouri’s higher education substance misuse consortium, work to create and support safe, health-enhancing college campuses. PIP created the Missouri Assessment of College Health Behaviors (MACHB) in 2007 to measure campus and state-wide progress reducing the harm college experience related to alcohol, cannabis, other drugs (illegal and prescription), tobacco/nicotine, interpersonal violence, and mental health. The MACHB is an annual, online survey conducted during the spring semester. This presentation summarizes five years of state-wide MACHB data (2020-2024) on key indicators of student risk behaviors such as binge drinking, underage alcohol use, cannabis use, illegal drugs use, prescription drug misuse, tobacco and nicotine use, and interpersonal violence. The intersectional issues of substance misuse, interpersonal violence, and mental health greatly impact student retention efforts. The baseline 2020 data used in this analysis was collected prior to the March COVID-19 campus pivots to online learning. Past year alcohol use has generally declined since 2020, as has binge drinking. In contrast, cannabis use has increased recently, as expected due to the November 2022 legalization of cannabis in Missouri. During this period, non-consensual sexual contact continued to be a significant issue among Missouri college students. The upward trend in suicidality during this five-year period is also of substantial concern. PIP has multiple resources available to assist Missouri campuses in addressing these health issues, but to enhance the well-being of Missouri college students, colleges must commit to implementing PIP’s (or other) evidence-based programs.
