A Cross-Cultural Study of Changes in Alcohol-Related Processing in Female College

描述（由申请人提供）：大学生酗酒是我们社会的一个严重问题。最近的研究表明，拉丁美洲人在从传统的家庭环境过渡到更自由的饮酒规范盛行的大学环境时，饮酒问题的发展风险可能特别高。在这种情况下，与酒精有关的认知和注意力偏差可能是学生决定从事危险饮酒行为的重要决定因素。本研究旨在对大学一年级大学生对酒精相关饮料的关注和消费相关的社会心理和神经生理因素之间的关系进行纵向调查。这一建议的独特之处在于，它关注的是未被充分研究的第一代墨西哥裔美国女大学生群体，同时使用事件相关电位（erp）实时跟踪注意力偏差的神经生理指标的变化（例如，当参与者观看与酒精有关的图像时）。由此得出的数据将有助于更好地理解女学生在大学一年级期间与酒精相关的注意力和感知变化的潜在机制。这些发现最终可以应用于注意力训练项目的开发，以治疗和预防大学校园里的过度饮酒。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): College binge drinking is a significant problem in our society. Recent research suggests that Latinas may be at a particularly high risk for the development of problem drinking as they transition from the traditional home environment to the college setting where more liberal drinking norms prevail. Under these circumstances, alcohol-related perceptions and attentional-biases may be important determinants in students' decisions to engage in risky drinking behaviors. The proposed study is a longitudinal examination of the relationship between psychosocial and neurophysiological factors associated with college students' attention to and consumption of alcohol-related beverages during the freshman year of college. This proposal is unique in that it focuses on the understudied population of first-generation, Mexican-American college women, while at the same time using event-related potentials (ERPs) to track changes in neurophysiological indices of attentional bias in real time (e.g., as participants view alcohol-related images). Resulting data will lead to a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying changes in alcohol-related attention and perception over the course of female students' first year in the college environment. These findings could ultimately be applied to the development of attentional training programs for the treatment and prevention of excessive alcohol consumption on college campuses. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The transition from the home environment to college is a time of adjustment that is often marked by an increase in alcohol use and recent research suggests that young women, particularly Latinas, may be at a particularly high risk for the development of problem drinking during this transition. The purpose of this study is to examine how alcohol use, attitudes toward alcohol and the ability for alcohol images to capture attention change over the first year of college in young women, and whether these changes differ across cultures. Results of this study will provide a better understanding of the reasons why people engage in activities that may harm their health.