The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors involved in natural recover or spontaneous remission from high-risk alcohol use in college students. The author hoped to explore the relationship between cognitive development and college students' drinking behaviors. Fraternity and sorority students from The College of William and Mary and Christopher Newport University served as participants in this study. The two universities were chosen because their undergraduate enrollments were approximately equal, and both campuses possessed a similar number of active fraternity and sorority chapters. Participants completed a demographic questionnaire, an instrument to assess for problems caused by their drinking, and an instrument designed to measure their level of cognitive complexity. It was hypothesized that as students became for cognitive complex over time, that their alcohol use would become less hazardous. This was not supported by the findings however, and participants instead appeared to engage in higher levels of hazardous drinking as they became more cognitively complex. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]