ABSTRACT. Objective: Despite research suggesting that parental involvement can affect alcohol involvement among adolescents, few studies have focused on parent-based alcohol prevention strategies among college undergraduates. We report the results of a randomized trial of a parent-based intervention (PBI) in a sample of college freshmen. Method: Across two cohorts, 724 incoming freshman-parent dyads completed baseline assessments and were randomly assigned to PBI or intervention as usual (an alcohol fact sheet for parents). Student followup assessments were completed at 4 and 8 months. Results: Two-part latent growth curve modeling was used to test hypothesized intervention effects. Outcome variables were drinks per week (past month), heavy episodic drinking (past 2 weeks), and alcohol-related problems (past 3 months). Over the 8-month follow-up period, PBI had a signifi cant effect on drinks per week but not heavy episodic drinking or alcohol-related problems. Specifi cally, compared with students in the intervention-asusual condition, students receiving the PBI were signifi cantly less likely to transition from nondrinker to drinker status and showed less growth in drinking over the freshman year. However, the direct PBI effect on growth was qualifi ed by a PBI × Gender interaction, with probes indicating that the effect applied to women but not men in the PBI condition. Conclusions: This study extends previous research by demonstrating the potential utility for PBIs to decrease the likelihood of transitioning into drinker status and, at least for women, for slowing growth in drinking over the freshman year. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, Supplement No. 16: 67-76, 2009)

Journal of College Student PsychotherapyPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:

No abstract

L. Benjamin's (1984) structural analysis of social behavior (SASB) system was used as the organizing framework within which to characterize the phenomenology of self and other relationship experience among subtypes of alcoholic men. Within the context of a community-based study of psychopathology, groups of antisocial alcoholic (AAL), nonantisocial alcoholic (NAAL), and nonalcoholic (control) men completed ratings of their introject (self-concept) and spousal experience. Group differences in demography and psychopathology provided strong support for subtype variations among alcoholic men that could not be attributed to global differences in adaptive functioning. SASB data showed consistency in circumplex ordering across the groups in ratings of self-experience and in ratings of the spousal relationship. AAL men were the most self-neglecting, blaming, and least trusting, and control men were the most relationally connected, with NAAL men falling in between. Despite the importance of the subtyping distinction, in some areas, alcoholism, regardless of subtype, was the core differentiating factor.

A sample of 19 residents of Hawaii were surveyed after their social context changed from majority group to minority group status as a result of relocation to the mainland United States to attend college. Multivariate statistical methods were used to evaluate the effects of group attitudes and length of residence in the mainland on ethnic identity and affiliative behavior. Results showed (a) an internalization of the perceived attitudes of mainland students with respect to the attitudes held by Hawaiian students toward their own group, (b) a strong association between Hawaiian students' attitudes toward their own group and affiliation with other Hawaiian students, (c) a marked reduction in the perceived favorability of attitudes of mainland students after the first year of mainland residence, (d) a decline in Hawaiian identification with increasing years of mainland residence, and (e) no association between Hawaiian identification and affiliative behavior toward fellow Hawaiian students.