Event Specific Prevention

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Heavy drinking among college students continues to be an epidemic problem throughout the United States. Brief motivational interventions utilizing personalized feedback have consistently demonstrated reductions in the average number of drinks students consume over time. However, no empirically supported interventions are currently available which specifically target events associated with extreme risk (e.g., 21st birthdays and Spring Break). The availability of an Event-Specific Prevention (ESP) paradigm would represent a novel and important contribution to the prevention field. The proposed research is designed to evaluate ESP interventions modified from existing empirically supported interventions which target drinking more globally. This research will be conducted in 3 stages. In stage 1 (year 1), campus specific prevalence rates of consumption and consequences associated with 21st birthday celebrations and Spring Break will be obtained and incorporated into interventions to be evaluated in stages 2 and 3. Stage 2 (years 1-3) will implement an efficacy trial focused on 21st birthday drinking. Following a baseline assessment two weeks prior to their 21st birthday, students will be randomly assigned to receive event specific web-based personalized feedback, an in-person event specific brief motivational feedback intervention, an in-person non-specific brief motivational feedback intervention or an assessment only control group. Students in the event-specific feedback groups will also be randomly assigned to a friend intervention or no friend intervention condition. Students in the friend intervention conditions will nominate two friends to help them have a safe and enjoyable birthday. Friends will receive a brief web-based intervention providing tools to help them assist the celebrant in reducing the risk of negative alcohol related consequences during the event. Assessments immediately post-intervention and after the 21st birthday will establish intervention efficacy, and assessments at 3, 6, and 9 months and 1 year will establish generalizability and long term intervention effects. Stage 3 (years 2-5) will utilize a design parallel to stage 2 but will focus specifically on Spring Break drinking. In sum, this research will evaluate ESP interventions for two events for which empirically supported interventions are currently unavailable. This research has the potential to establish a new prevention paradigm for problem drinking among college students.