Development and Pilot of a Parent Based Intervention for Reducing High-risk Social Networking Site Cognitions, Alcohol Use, and Negative Consequences Among Adolescents

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The prevalence of underage alcohol use continues to be a public health concern. Numerous studies have reported associations between teen drinking tendencies and parental attitudes and beliefs, parental awareness of teen drinking, parental monitoring and the quality of the parent–teen relationship and communication. The extensive work in this area has resulted in parent-based intervention (PBI) efforts to prevent or reduce adolescent alcohol use. Several independent studies have indicated that teens whose parents received a PBI reported less alcohol use and fewer alcohol-related consequences. Despite these strengths, one major limitation of PBI is that they do not currently take into account the large role that social networking sites (SNS) use plays in adolescents’ lives and in relation to their alcohol use. Most (90%) adolescents are on SNS, and their Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter profiles include alcohol content. As such, we propose to develop and refine an interactive PBI designed to reduce high-risk SNS cognitions (i.e. attitudes and norms), alcohol use, and negative consequences among adolescents. To achieve study aims, we propose an iterative process of online focus groups in order to develop and refine the interactive PBI to be delivered in the pilot study with 1 and 6 month follow-up among 100 parent/teen dyads. The objective of this R34 application is to establish feasibility and acceptability of the newly developed interactive PBI that focuses on the role of SNS in adolescent alcohol use as well as to determine preliminary effect sizes for future studies. This administrative supplement (PA-20-272) request is being submitted to meet increased costs that are within the scope of the approved award but were unforeseen due to COVID-19. Specifically, the proposed supplement will allow us to maximize the remaining time in our original timeline to finish developing and launch the Phase 2 pilot study in late Fall 2021. With the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a delay in launching Phase 1 Focus Groups due to restrictions on in-person research at our institution. As such, we needed to pivot the project to be delivered completely online. As a result, we experienced increased programming costs and a delay in timeline based on this change in focus group format and the necessary human subjects approvals and processes at our institution. Further, without the ability to do many of our routine in-person recruitment strategies (e.g., such as going to schools, community events, and handing out flyers in person) based on university and community guidelines and precautions, we have spent and anticipate needing to continue to spend more money on online advertising alternatives (social media, online newspapers) than originally expected. Finally, because of the delay in project timeline we are currently understaffed to sufficiently meet our study aims and to successfully carry out the remainder of the project. Thus, in order to achieve these goals, we will need additional faculty and staff effort and increased advertising and programming costs as requested in this supplement.