The current application is a competing continuation of #R01 AA12547. The broad, long-term objective of this program of research is to reduce college student alcohol use and negative consequences. The current application builds on our prior research, through evaluating conditions under which the influence of personalized normative feedback may be enhanced. Questions to be addressed include the impact of relevance of the normative reference group, magnitude of the normative discrepancy, and comparative influence of descriptive, injunctive, or combined normative feedback on drinking behavior.
The specific aims are: 1) Document the gender-, ethnicity-, and residence-specific descriptive and injunctivenorms for alcohol use on campus, their relation to drinking behavior, and the degree of discrepancy between actual and perceived norms for these specific reference groups. These data will establish the norms and dimensions of normative salience utilized to address aims 2-4; 2) Compare the efficacy of descriptive norms feedbackregardingspecific referencegroups relative to each other and versusa generic (typical college student) referencegroup, as well as in comparison to comprehensivemotivational feedback (WebBASICS) and two controlgroups (repeated assessment and minimal assessment). This will be accomplished through a randomized trial using a 2 (gender-specific versus non-specific) by 2 (ethnicity- specific versus non-specific) by 2 (residence-specific versus non-specific) + 3 (repeated assessment (non-drinking feedback control);WebBASICS (full feedback comparison,); minimal assessment control) longitudinal design; 3) Evaluate proposed moderators of intervention efficacy, including a) the discrepancy between perceived and actual norms, b) the discrepancy between actual norms and drinking behavior, and c) identification with/importance of reference groups (gender, ethnicity, and residence-type); and 4) Contrast the efficacy of injunctive, descriptive, and combined normative feedback to repeated assessment (non-drinking feedback control), webBASICS (full feedback comparison), and minimal assessment in reducing alcohol use and consequences in this population. This research will provide theoretical and practical advances in the study of normative feedback interventions to combat the serious public health problem of college drinking.
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