Examining a Brief Parent Intervention to Reduce College Student Drinking and Consequences

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Abstract While many consequences of college risky drinking affect the students themselves (e.g., hangovers, embarrassment, academics), other problems such as impaired driving (IMPD) jeopardize public safety and must be addressed. Reports show: 1) college student “high-intensity” drinkers (10+ drinks per occasion) experience more problems, including increased impaired driving, and 2) although over 1.3 million drivers in the U.S. are arrested for impaired driving annually, they only represent 1% of the estimated 121 million self-reported episodes of impaired driving each year. Our recent NIAAA-funded research identified specific parenting behaviors related to college students’ risky drinking and consequences that are not being adequately addressed in college-level parent interventions. This research revealed: 1) many parents allow their teens to drink alcohol in an attempt to take the mystery away and provide opportunities to teach them safer drinking practices; 2) parental permissiveness toward underage drinking, even though it was intended to be protective by parents, had the opposite effect and was significantly associated with increased drinking and consequences throughout college; and 3) the effects of parental permissiveness was not attenuated by other positive parenting behaviors (e.g., communication, monitoring). In response, we developed and piloted a brief 15-20 minute intervention (P-Chat) that uses principles of Motivational Interviewing to reduce defensiveness and change parents’ permissiveness. The pilot data demonstrate our ability to implement the P-Chat with fidelity; modify parents’ willingness to change; and most importantly, change parents’ permissive behaviors. These data provide justification to warrant a larger-scale comprehensive study examining the effects of the P-Chat on reducing students’ risky drinking and consequences. Our proposed study will use an extremely rigorous design to test the P-Chat. The aims are as follows: Aim 1: Assess the effects of the P-Chat at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months post-baseline relative to a rigorous active comparison condition (the original evidence-based PBI), an assessment only-control, and a combined intervention condition the P-Chat plus the PBI (P-Chat+); Aim 2: Examine the process by which the P-Chat influences parents’ permissiveness (and communications) and college students’ behaviors (e.g., motives, expectancies, norms, and willingness to consume alcohol) using a well-developed theoretical model; and Aim 3: Examine subgroups for which the P-Chat is more effective versus less effective. Our moderators will be broadly based and focus on baseline student characteristics (e.g., sex, age of onset of alcohol use) and parent characteristics (e.g., sex, age, education, marital status, monitoring). To the extent that the research is successful, it will provide an efficacious approach to address an important public health problem.