The present research was conducted to clarify the relationships among social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and negative-reinforcement drinking motives among college students. Heavy drinking students (N = 316, 53.80% female) completed self-report measures of social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and drinking motives. Findings indicated that students higher in social anxiety consumed less alcohol but experienced more negative consequences. Moreover, the relationship between social anxiety and negative consequences was mediated by coping and conformity drinking motives in addition to alcohol consumption. In the context of social anxiety, the current research demonstrates the importance of examining problematic drinking as distinct constructs: alcohol consumption and negative consequences. Findings are also discussed in terms of implications for interventions with socially anxious students.

This research evaluated the efficacy of a computerized, freshmen-specific personalized normative feedback (PNF) intervention on reducing alcohol consumption among high-risk drinking freshmen. Students (N = 316; 53.8% female) completed measures of perceived drinking norms and drinking behavior. After completing the baseline assessment, students were randomly assigned to receive either freshmen-specific PNF that was gender-specific or gender-neutral, or to assessment only control. Findings demonstrated that students exhibited normative misperceptions for typical freshmen drinking behavior and that perceptions of typical same-sex freshmen drinking were positively associated with riskier drinking behavior. At follow-up, students randomly assigned to receive PNF reduced perceptions of typical freshmen drinking behavior and personal drinking behavior relative to those who did not receive PNF. Findings extend previous evaluations of computer-based PNF and suggest that computer-based PNF for incoming freshmen using utilizing freshmen-specific norms that are gender-specific may constitute a promising prevention strategy.

Objective-Negative alcohol-related consequences often occur during specific events and in specific contexts (eg., 21st birthday celebrations and tailgating parties). A lack of available eventand context-specific interventions suggests the need to better understand factors associated with heavy drinking in these contexts, with an eye toward developing specific interventions. The purpose of this research was to lay the foundation for developing personalized normative feedback interventions for 21st birthday celebratory drinking and tailgating drinking by evaluating whether students overestimate norms in these specific contexts, as they do more generally.Method-Perceived descriptive norms and alcohol consumption were assessed at event-and context-specific levels in two studies. Study 1 included 119 students turning 21 years old who reported their 21st birthday drinking behavior and estimated the typical number of drinks consumed by students celebrating (their 21st birthday. Study 2 included 140 undergraduates drawn from a stratified random sample who reported their behavior regarding drinking and tailgating and their perceived norms for typical drinking and tailgating behavior.Results-Results from Study 1 revealed that students overestimated peer drinking during 21st birthday celebrations, and this overestimation was associated with heavier drinking on one's own 21st birthday. In Study 2, students underestimated the percentage of tailgaters who drank but overestimated typical consumption. Overestimation was consistently associated with heavier drinking during tailgating.Conclusions-Successful correction of general normative misperceptions has been shown to reduce drinking in other research. Documentation of normative misperceptions for specific events and context provided by these results represents an important step in developing event-and contextspecific interventions utilizing specific normative feedback.Alcohol-related negative consequences experienced by college students typically result from acute drinking episodes during specific event or in specific contexts (e.g., hangover after a party or a fight at a football game), rather than being the result of chronic heavy use over a long period of time (e.g., liver damage). Yet, prevention research has maintained a primarily macro perspective, most commonly assessing and targeting quantity and frequency of consumption and/or number and severity of consequences over some extended period of time (e.g., past 3 months). Similarly, predictors of high-risk drinking tend to be operationalized at

Objective-Although studies have consistently indicated that among college students alcohol use and the likelihood of experiencing alcohol-related problems are related it is possible that additional factors strengthen the magnitude of this relationship. The purpose of the present study was to assess the moderating effect of two such factors: negative affect and coping drinking motives.Method-Data were collected on 316 college students at a midsized public university in the upper Midwest who reported using alcohol.Results-Findings indicated that both negative affect and coping drinking motives moderated the alcohol use-alcohol problems relationship. The three-way interaction indicated that the strongest relationship between alcohol use and alcohol-related problems existed for individuals high in both negative affect and coping drinking motives.Conclusions-This study suggests that college students high in negative affect and coping drinking motives are particularly at risk for experiencing problems as a result of their alcohol use, indicating that clinicians should consider screening for these factors when conducting alcoholrelated prevention and intervention efforts.Heavy drinking among college students is a personal and public health risk. Results from national epidemiological studies indicated that approximately 40%-45% of students engaged in "heavy episodic" drinking (four or more drinks in one sitting for women; five or more drinks for men) in the preceding 2 weeks, approximately 20% of students met diagnostic criteria for an alcohol-related disorder, and college students were more likely to experience such disorders than their non-college-attending peers (Dawson et al., 2004;Johnston et al., 2005;Wechsler et al., 2002). Research has consistently demonstrated a link between heavy alcohol use among college students and negative consequences that range HHS Public Access Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript Author ManuscriptAuthor Manuscript from the relatively benign (e.g., missing class, becoming ill) to the very severe (e.g., experiencing legal problems, serious injury/death) (Hingson et al., 2005;Wechsler et al., 2002). Perhaps of greatest concern, epidemiological research documenting the overall public health problems caused by heavy drinking among college students estimated that each year 1,700 deaths, 500,000 unintentional injuries, and 600,000 assaults could be attributed to college student drinking (Hingson et al., 2005).It is not surprising that studies among college students have consistently shown that levels of alcohol use are associated with alcohol-related problems. For example, national studies have shown that students engaging in heavy episodic drinking were more likely to experience alcohol-related problems than lighter drinkers (e.g., Wechsler et al., 2000), whereas other research has shown that alcohol contributes to a significant number of emergency department visits by college students (Turner and Shu, 2004 This research clearly demonstrates that, as one would expect, the overall rel...

The authors designed this study to evaluate the prevalence and magnitude of heavy drinking among college students in celebrating their 21st birthdays and the impact of a birthday card suggesting moderation. The authors randomly assigned subjects to receive or not receive the card approximately 1 week prior to their birthday. Approximately 1 week after turning 21, the authors sent surveys to all subjects. Results based on 164 returned surveys indicated that 90% consumed alcohol, 75% went to a bar, 61% reached a blood alcohol content (BAC) above the legal driving limit, and 23% reached a BAC above .25. Results were similar for men and women. Although subjects generally liked the birthday card, it had no impact on their drinking or celebration plans. Findings suggest the need for additional attention focusing on specific alcohol-related events and further development of prevention approaches that are event specific.