What attracts college students to certain spring break destinations and what they do while they're there might be caused by more than just palm trees and sun.

Assistant professor of hotel, restaurant, recreation management Anna Mattila's recent research about what motivates college student's spring break destination choices found there are "big time gender differences" concerning the factors that intrigue men and women to certain destinations.

"Men look for sexual advertising," Mattila said. "Women are interested by more non-sexual images and by quality and price."

Brian Piccolo (sophomore-industrial engineering) said his decision making coincides with Mattila's findings.

"I look for the best girls, the best beaches and the best clubs," Piccolo said.

The study hopes to help the tourism and hospitality industry with its results, Mattila said.

It aims to provide more specific marketing tools for men and women, she said.

Students interviewed around campus said they were torn between warm weather with scantily clad bodies and the price tags on those attractions.

"My number one factor is price," said Jeremy Brown (junior-management).

But other factors attract his friend Matt Balas (junior-accounting).

"Chicks are number one for me," Balas said.

Matilla said men, much more than women, tend to look for drinking, sex and substance abuse during spring break.

"I look for girls without bikinis," said Jon Michael Southworth (senior-administration of justice).

Southworth said nude beaches in places such as Brazil would be his ideal vacation spot.

Not far from Southworth's priorities, Corey Solivan (sophomore-electrical engineering) said in searching for spring break destinations, he looks for "tall, blue-eyed, blonde girls."

In destinations, hotels, and tourist attractions, the results of the study show women tend to look more for quality and services, rather than the sexy images that appear on brochures that attract men, Mattila said.

Bonita Williams (sophomore-mechanical engineering) is going to Bermuda for spring break on a cruise with her grandmother.

"It's not that expensive, it's convenient and it's warm," Williams said.

In addition to what attracts students, the study also looked at how students' behavior changed while on vacation.

"It's intriguing; students do other things you wouldn't do on campus," Mattila said. "People forget about personal rules."

Students suspend all rules and engage in much more risky behavior than they would at school, she said.

"Men tend to engage in more risky behavior than women, with sex, substance abuse and alcohol," Mattila added.

Men are much more heavily influenced by peer pressure and students need to be educated on the actual norms of what goes on, Mattila said.

"People so easily overestimate other's behaviors," she said.

She added that the idea of the norm needs to be corrected.

Not all students feel spring break is a time for breaking rules though.

"I wouldn't do anything different on spring break than I would on weekends here," Piccolo said.

Although Mattila's research showed that women were less likely to engage in risky behavior, spring break environments can provide much of the influence for women to behave differently than they would on campus, she said.

"There are wet T-shirt contests, dirty dancing, and drinking contests," Mattila said.

After settling on specific destinations and tourist spots to visit, Mattila said that once on spring break, "students just let go."