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Perceived Behavioral Alcohol Norms Predict Drinking For College Students While Studying Abroad, Eric R. Pedersen, Joseph W. Labrie, Justin F. Hummer

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Objective:

College students who study abroad may represent a subgroup at risk for increased drinking while living in foreign countries. The present study explores this idea as well as the extent to which students' pre-abroad perceptions of study-abroad student drinking are related to actual drinking while abroad.

Method:

Ninety-one students planning to study abroad completed an online survey of demographics, pre-abroad drinking behavior, perceptions of study-abroad student drinking behavior while abroad, and intentions to drink while abroad. Halfway into their study-abroad experience, participants completed a follow-up survey assessing drinking while abroad.

Results:

Pre-abroad intentions of drinking and pre-abroad perceptions of …

Alcohol-Related Information In Multi-Component Interventions And College Students’ Drinking Behavior, Vandana Thadani, Karen Huchting, Joseph W. Labrie

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Education-only interventions produce little change in drinking behaviors; but, multi-component prevention programs, which include alcohol information as one feature, can decrease drinking. This study examined the role of alcohol knowledge in a multi-component intervention previously found to reduce first-year female college students’ alcohol consumption. Intervention and control group students completed pre and postintervention assessments of drinking behaviors, and a postintervention assessment of alcohol-knowledge. Intervention students outperformed control students on the measure of alcohol knowledge. However knowledge did not predict drinking outcomes for this group, and it was positively correlated with drinking behaviors for control students. The findings suggest that, although …

Preventing Risky Drinking In First-Year College Women: Further Validation Of A Female-Specific Motivational-Enhancement Group Intervention, Joseph W. Labrie, Karen K. Huchting, Andrew Lac, Summer Tawalbeh, Alysha D. Thompson, Mary E. Larimer

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Objective:

Female college students have increased their alcohol consumption rates. The current study sought to replicate the effectiveness of a female-specific motivational-enhancement group intervention and extended previous work by adding a 6-month follow-up. The intervention included several motivational-enhancement components delivered in a group setting and included a group discussion of female-specific reasons for drinking.

Method:

Participants were 285 first-year college women. Data collection consisted of an online pre-intervention questionnaire, 10 weeks of online follow-up assessment, and a 6-month online follow-up. Using a randomized design, participants chose a group session, blind to treatment status. Held during the first weeks of the …

The Prognostic Power Of Normative Influences Among Ncaa Student-Athletes, Justin F. Hummer, Joseph W. Labrie, Andrew Lac

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This study evaluated the predictive power of perceived descriptive and injunctive norms on intercollegiate student-athlete alcohol consumption and attitudes toward drinking-related behaviors. The sample consisted of 594 NCAA student-athletes from two geographically opposite sites. Norms variables utilized a school and gender-specific athletic peer reference group. Results indicate that respondents reported greater perceived injunctive norms than actual attitudes, and greater perceived descriptive norms than actual alcohol use. Further, after accounting for demographics and alcohol motivations, perceived injunctive norms were the strongest predictors of athletes' attitudes with the final model explaining 54% of the variance. Similarly, perceived descriptive norms were among the …

Family History Of Alcohol Abuse Moderates Effectiveness Of A Group Motivational Enhancement Intervention In College Women, Joseph W. Labrie, Nashla Feres, Shannon R. Kenney, Andrew Lac

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This study examined whether a self-reported family history of alcohol abuse (FH+) moderated the effects of a female-specific group motivational enhancement intervention with first-year college women. First-year college women (N= 287) completed an initial questionnaire and attended an intervention (n=161) or control (n=126) group session, of which 118 reported FH+. Repeated measures ANCOVA models were estimated to investigate whether the effectiveness of the intervention varied as a function of one’s reported family history of alcohol abuse. Results revealed that family history of alcohol abuse moderated intervention efficacy. Although the intervention was effective in producing …

What Men Want: The Role Of Reflective Opposite-Sex Normative Preferences In Alcohol Use Among College Women, Joseph W. Labrie, Jessica Cail, Justin F. Hummer, Andrew Lac, Clayton Neighbors

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Misperceptions of peer drinking norms have been found to be strongly associated with individual drinking behavior, especially for proximal reference groups such as same-sex friends. Less studied are the effects of perceived preferences from the opposite sex on alcohol use; that is, the behaviors an individual believe the opposite sex prefers from them. Research suggests that these perceived “reflective” normative preferences may be particularly salient among college women, who may drink in pursuit of intimate relationships and positive attention from male peers. Heterosexual undergraduate students from two universities participated in this project. Females answered questions regarding the amount of alcohol …

Differential Drinking Patterns Of Family History Positive And Family History Negative First Semester College Females, Joseph W. Labrie, Shannon R. Kenney, Andrew Lac, Savannah F. Migliuri

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Objective

This study compares the natural drinking patterns of family history positive and family history negative women during their first semester of college, a transitional period known to coincide with considerable alcohol-related risks.

Method

Seventy-two incoming undergraduate females, approximately half of whom reported a family history of alcohol misuse, completed initial questionnaires as well as Timeline Followback assessments. In addition, participants completed five successive weeks of online behavioral diaries measuring three categories of prospective alcohol consumption: total drinks, maximum drinks, and heavy episodic drinking events. Repeated measures ANCOVA models, controlling for prior alcohol consumption, examined participants’ drinking behavior.

Results

Over …

Before You Slip Into The Night, You’Ll Want Something To Drink: Exploring The Reasons For Prepartying Behavior Among College Student Drinkers, Eric R. Pedersen, Joseph W. Labrie, Jason R. Kilmer

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Prepartying among college students is an emerging topic of research and clinical focus. Unfortunately for some students, prepartying, or quick drinking before going out for the primary event of the evening, can lead to high blood alcohol levels, further drinking, and subsequent consequences. The present study was designed to explore the reasons for prepartying among a sample of 444 male and female students. Males and females reported arriving to a social event already under the influence, saving money, and making the night more interesting as their most highly endorsed reasons for prepartying. Males endorsed reasons relating to increased social and …

A Brief Live Interactive Normative Group Intervention Using Wireless Keypads To Reduce Drinking And Alcohol Consequences In College Student Athletes, Joseph W. Labrie, Justin F. Hummer, Karen K. Huchting, Clayton Neighbors

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Introduction and Aims

Misperceptions of how members of one’s social group think and act influence behaviour. The current study was designed to extend the research of group-specific normative feedback interventions among salient campus groups with heightened risk. Although not a randomised controlled trial, this research used normative feedback that was obtained using wireless keypad technology during a live session, within sex-specific student athlete groups to extend the proof of concept of using this brief interactive intervention.

Design and Methods

Participants included 660 intercollegiate athletes from all varsity athletic teams at two private, mid-size universities. Intervention data were gathered in vivo …

A Night To Remember: A Harm-Reduction Birthday Card Intervention Reduces High-Risk Drinking During 21st Birthday Celebrations, Joseph W. Labrie, Savannah Migliuri, Jessica Cail

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Objective

In collaboration with Residence Life, the Heads UP research team developed a 21st birthday card program to help reduce the risky drinking often associated with these celebrations.

Participants

81 students (28 males, 53 females) completed a post-21st birthday survey. Of these, 74 reported drinking during their 21st birthday and were included in the analyses.

Methods

During the 2005–2006 school year, the authors assigned students celebrating 21st birthdays to either receive an alcohol risk-reduction birthday card or to a no-card condition. The students completed a survey after their birthday.

Results

Students who received the card consumed fewer drinks and reached …