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

描述（由申请人提供）：大学酗酒是我们社会中的一个重大问题。最近的研究表明，拉丁美洲人可能是在一个特别高的风险，为发展问题饮酒，因为他们从传统的家庭环境过渡到大学环境中，更自由的饮酒规范占上风。在这种情况下，与酒精相关的知觉和注意偏差可能是学生做出危险饮酒行为的重要决定因素。这项研究是一项纵向研究，旨在探讨大学生在大学一年级期间对酒精相关饮料的关注和消费与心理社会和神经生理因素之间的关系。这项提案的独特之处在于，它关注的是第一代墨西哥裔美国大学女性的未充分研究人群，同时使用事件相关电位（ERP）来跟踪真实的时间内注意力偏差的神经生理学指标的变化（例如，当参与者观看与酒精相关的图像时）。由此产生的数据将导致更好地了解机制的变化，在酒精相关的注意力和感知的过程中，女学生的第一年在大学环境。这些发现最终可以应用于开发注意力训练计划，以治疗和预防大学校园过度饮酒。 公共卫生相关性：从家庭环境到大学的过渡是一个调整的时间，通常以酒精使用的增加为标志，最近的研究表明，年轻女性，特别是拉丁美洲人，在这个过渡期间可能会出现饮酒问题的风险特别高。本研究的目的是探讨如何使用酒精，对酒精的态度和酒精图像捕捉注意力的能力在大学的第一年在年轻女性的变化，以及这些变化是否在不同的文化。这项研究的结果将有助于更好地了解人们从事可能损害健康的活动的原因。

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.