Brief Motivational Intervention for Alcohol Use and Sexual Behavior

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Despite acknowledgment of bidirectional influences between heavy alcohol use and risky sexual behavior among emerging adults, little research has examined interventions designed to address both behaviors simultaneously for high risk events. The current proposal is to (a) identify motivations for and co-occurrence of alcohol use and sexual behavior during the high risk event of Spring Break, (b) develop a brief motivational feedback intervention, Spring Break Behavior and Health (SBBH), with the goal of reducing heavy alcohol use and alcohol-related risky sex during Spring Break, and (c) evaluate the efficacy of the SBBH pre-Spring Break in a randomized control trial among college students. Measures regarding specific motivations for alcohol use and sexual behavior during Spring Break will be developed and psychometric properties will be evaluated. Timeline follow-back procedures will be used to collect daily behavioral data during the break week. Using multi-level modeling procedures, co-variation of alcohol use and sexual behavior between people (on average) and within-people (day to day) during Spring Break will be assessed, with potential moderating effects of going on a Spring Break trip and participating in the intervention program. As motivations for behaviors specific to Spring Break are better understood and efficacious programs are developed and evaluated, it will become clearer the degree to which alcohol use and sexual behavior can appropriately be targeted together in motivation-based brief interventions designed to promote public health. The high risk time of Spring Break is an appropriate trial period for this type of intervention due to the time-limited peaks in behaviors and potential for harmful consequences associated with alcohol use (e.g., injury, alcohol poisoning) and sexual behavior (e.g., STDs, unwanted pregnancy) among college students.