Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors
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Psychol Addict Behav · Mar 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialDrinking to cope moderates the efficacy of changing veteran drinking norms as a strategy for reducing drinking and alcohol-related problems among U.S. veterans.
Heavy and problematic drinking is a concern among young adult military veterans. Personalized normative feedback (PNF) interventions that target normative misperceptions regarding drinking have been efficacious among young adults and have recently begun to be implemented among veteran populations in an effort to reduce heavy drinking. However, moderators of PNF intervention efficacy among veterans are largely unexplored. ⋯ Seven hundred eighty-four individuals completed baseline and 622 completed 1-month follow-up assessments (79% follow-up), including measures of alcohol use, alcohol-related problems, and drinking motives. Moderated mediation analyses indicated that changes in normative misperceptions as a result of the intervention were more strongly associated with reductions in drinking and problems among veterans scoring higher on drinking to cope. These findings suggest that PNF may be an especially efficacious brief intervention for veterans who drink for coping reasons. (PsycINFO Database Record
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Psychol Addict Behav · Sep 2015
Randomized Controlled TrialParental involvement in brief interventions for adolescent marijuana use.
Adolescents (aged 12-18 years) identified in a school setting as abusing marijuana and other drugs were randomly assigned to complete 1 of 2 brief interventions (BIs). Adolescents and their parent (N = 259) were randomly assigned to receive either a 2-session adolescent only (BI-A) or a 2-session adolescent and additional parent session (BI-AP). Interventions were manualized and delivered in a school setting by trained counselors. ⋯ A marijuana dependence diagnosis resulted in poorer marijuana use outcomes within the BI-A condition when compared to BI-AP. Co-occurring conduct problems were associated with poorer marijuana use outcomes within the BI-AP intervention when compared to BI-A. Implications for implementing BIs given diagnostic status, parent involvement, and co-occurring conduct problems are discussed.
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Psychol Addict Behav · Jun 2014
Randomized Controlled TrialOne-year outcomes and mediators of a brief intervention for drug abusing adolescents.
Two manually guided brief interventions were evaluated with a randomized, controlled trial. Adolescents (aged 13-17 years) suspected of abusing alcohol and other drugs and their parent were randomly assigned to receive either a 2-session adolescent only (BI-A), 2-session adolescent and additional parent session (BI-AP), or assessment only control condition (CON). Adolescents were identified in a school setting, and the intervention was delivered by trained counselors. ⋯ Students in the control condition showed worse outcome compared with the BI-A and BI-AP groups. Among the 4 mediating variables measured at 6 months, use of additional services, motivation to change, and parenting practices had significant influences on 12-month outcome; problem-solving skills approached significance as a mediator. The potential value of a brief intervention for drug abusing adolescents is discussed.
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Psychol Addict Behav · Dec 2011
Randomized Controlled TrialAdolescent alcohol-related risk cognitions: the roles of social norms and social networking sites.
The present study examined the impact of socially based descriptive norms on willingness to drink alcohol, drinker prototype favorability, affective alcohol attitudes, and perceived vulnerability for alcohol-related consequences within the Prototype Willingness model. Descriptive norms were manipulated by having 189 young adolescents view experimenter-created profile pages from the social networking site Facebook, which either showed older peers drinking or not. ⋯ A multiple mediation analysis indicated that prototypes, attitudes, and perceptions of use mediated the relationship between the content of the Facebook profile and willingness. These results indicate that adolescents who perceive that alcohol use is normative, as evidenced by Facebook profiles, are at higher risk for cognitions shown to predict alcohol use than adolescents who do not see alcohol use portrayed as frequently on Facebook.
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Psychol Addict Behav · Dec 2010
Randomized Controlled TrialComputerized versus motivational interviewing alcohol interventions: impact on discrepancy, motivation, and drinking.
The authors conducted two randomized clinical trials with ethnically diverse samples of college student drinkers in order to determine (a) the relative efficacy of two popular computerized interventions versus a more comprehensive motivational interview approach (BASICS) and (b) the mechanisms of change associated with these interventions. In Study 1, heavy drinking participants recruited from a student health center (N = 74, 59% women, 23% African American) were randomly assigned to receive BASICS or the Alcohol 101 CD-ROM program. BASICS was associated with greater post-session motivation to change and self-ideal and normative discrepancy relative to Alcohol 101, but there were no group differences in the primary drinking outcomes at 1-month follow-up. ⋯ There was a significant treatment effect on typical weekly and heavy drinking, with participants in BASICS reporting significantly lower follow-up drinking relative to assessment only participants. In Study 2, change in the motivation or discrepancy did not predict drinking outcomes. Across both studies, African American students assigned to BASICS reported medium effect size reductions in drinking whereas African American students assigned to Alcohol 101, e-CHUG, or assessment did not reduce their drinking.