Alcohol-related consequences among college students continue to be a public health concern for colleges throughout the United States. To combat escalating drinking and problems, more intensive interventions have been implemented. While some have shown efficacy in reducing drinking among students, studies show that alcohol-related consequences as a whole have not decreased significantly in the past decade and serious consequences are persisting and increasing among older students. Further, although some programs have reported reductions in consequences, others have not despite reductions in drinking. Further attention is needed to address the mechanisms underlying this inconsistency in outcomes. The present proposal is a continuation of a research program analyzing consequence-specific constructs (e.g., willingness to experience consequences, intentions to avoid them) and their relationship to alcohol-related consequences. The research will utilize a combination of variable and person centered methods in a longitudinal prospective design to examine consequence-specific constructs and alcohol-related consequences. The variable analyses will provide insights into consequence constructs, contextual changes (e.g. living environment, turning 21, etc.) and subsequent consequences on a short (1 year) and long-term (4 year) basis. Whereas, the person centered transition analyses will provide information about high-risk individuals and how better to target them through intervention efforts. The research will analyze 2000 college students to examine: 1) the predictive influence of consequence-specific constructs, relative to alcohol use, on the experience of both negative and positive consequences in first-year students; 2) changes in the relationships between consequence-specific constructs, drinking tendencies, contextual changes, and the experience of both negative and positive consequences throughout the entire college experience; and 3) membership in consequence subgroups, predictors of the subgroups, and critical time points for changes between consequence subgroups that reflect increases and decreases of both negative and positive consequences using a person-centered approach.
Alcohol related consequences among college students continue to be a public health concern for colleges throughout the United States. To combat escalating drinking and problems; more intensive interventions have been implemented. While some have shown efficacy in reducing drinking among students, studies show that alcohol-related consequences as a whole have not decreased significantly in the past decade and serious consequences are persisting and increasing among older students. Further, although some programs have reported reductions in consequences, others have not despite reductions in drinking. The magnitude of problematic college drinking and its impact on other students as well as the communities in which they reside, underscores our need to understand more about the unique predictors of consequences and the students who are most prone to experience them in order to increase the effectiveness of intervention efforts. The present proposal is a continuation of a program of research analyzing consequence-specific constructs (e.g., willingness to experience consequences, intentions to avoid consequences, etc.) and their relationship to subsequent alcohol-related consequences. Further, the current study will examine students longitudinally throughout college and identify subgroups that are at an increased risk of experiencing consequences and chronic alcohol related problems. The results of the proposed research will inform intervention efforts aimed at reducing alcohol consequences among college students.
