Alcohol Early Intervention for Freshmen

Summary

Alcohol abuse among college students is a significant and long-standing public health issue. The transition into college is marked by substantial increases in alcohol abuse and problems, suggesting the importance of interventions that take place prior to and immediately following matriculation. To date, early interventions with this population have yielded modest results with very little evidence identifying either the factors that are responsible for observed effects or specific individual or situational factors that qualify intervention efficacy. There is preliminary evidence for the efficacy of individualized feedback (IF) in reducing college student alcohol abuse. Additionally, a sizeable body of research with early adolescents and emerging work with college students point to the utility of parent-based interventions (PBI). The major aim of this research is to provide the first test of the unique and combined efficacy of these two successful interventions in reducing alcohol abuse among matriculating college students.

Conditions

• Alcohol Abuse

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI)

Students met with trained interventionists. The initial BMI took place during the fall semester of the freshmen year for approximately 45 minutes. Individualized feedback was used to guide the BMI sessions. The feedback data were gathered through an online survey completed within two weeks of the scheduled appointment to ensure the use of proximal feedback reflecting current drinking. Feedback was tailored so that drinkers received information on their personal drinking patterns, heavy episodic drinking, and alcohol-related consequences, and abstainers received feedback on their perceived barriers for maintaining abstinence, the safety and health benefits of their choice not to drink, and their experience with second-hand effects of alcohol use. In the spring of the freshmen year, students received a BMI 'booster' session. Individualized feedback was created from the original online survey and the 10 month follow-up assessment.

BEHAVIORAL

Parent Based Intervention plus booster

The PBI is a handbook-based intervention modified from Turrisi and colleagues (2001). It was designed to raise parental awareness of alcohol abuse and consequences among college students and increase parental effort to address this issue with their teen.

BEHAVIORAL

Combined brief motivational intervention and parent based intervention plus boosters for both interventions

A combination of Intervention 1 and 2.

OTHER

Assessment only

No intervention, assessment only.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

  lead NIH

Principal Investigators

• Mark D Wood, PhD · University of Rhode Island

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

17 Years

Max Age

20 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2004-01-31

Primary Completion

2007-06-30

Completion

2009-07-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations