A Dual-Process Examination of Alcohol-Related Consequences Among First-Year College Students

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Objective:Despite showing reductions in college student drinking, interventions have shown some inconsistency in their ability to successfully decrease consequences. With the goal of improving prevention efforts, the purpose of this study was to examine the role of consequence-specific constructs, in addition to drinking, that influence students' experiences with alcohol-related problems. The study examined how drinking and protective behaviors mediated the relationships between students' willingness to experience consequences, intentions to avoid them, and four categories of alcohol-related problems (physiological, social, sexual, and academic). Method: First-year college student drinkers (n = 2,024) at a large northeastern university completed surveys during the fall and spring of their freshman year. Results: As expected, different patterns of associations emerged for physiological and nonphysiological consequences. When physiological consequences (e.g., hangover, vomiting) were examined, drinking significantly mediated the effect of willingness on the consequences. Drinking-specific protective behaviors indirectly influenced consequences through drinking behaviors whereas general protective behaviors did not. When nonphysiological (e.g., social, sexual, academic) consequences were examined, drinking and general protective behaviors emerged as significant mediators of the effects of willingness and intentions on the consequences, whereas drinking-specific protective behaviors did not. Conclusions: The results suggest that prevention efforts (e.g., personalized feedback) could be tailored to address specific types of protective behaviors as well as specific types of consequences frequently experienced by college students. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 76, 862-871, 2015)

Do students use contextual protective behaviors to reduce alcohol-related sexual risk? Examination of a dual-process decision-making model.

“…First, although CPBs have been associated with decreased sexual risk (Mallett et al, 2015), there remain gaps in understanding how and when individuals use CPBs. Future work should prospectively examine patterns of CPB use across different contexts (e.g., at different levels of intoxication, with peers who are familiar vs. acquaintances, at parties vs. bars).…”

“…Although protective behaviors can include strategies that either decrease one’s level of intoxication (e.g., pacing or limiting alcohol consumption; alternating alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks) or target social and environmental elements of the context where drinking occurs (e.g., walking home with trusted friends; communicating sexual boundaries), protective strategies are often measured as a collective construct (e.g., Delva et al, 2004; Martens, Ferrier, & Cimini, 2007). However, Mallett and colleagues (2015) have found a unique direct association between contextually based protective behaviors (CPBs) and decreased sexual risk, even after accounting for drinking and other protective behavior use. Further, CPBs have been used with good success in risk-reduction and self-defense interventions to reduce rates of victimization (Orchowski, Gidycz, & Raffle, 2008).…”

Are Co‐users of Alcohol and Marijuana More Willing to Experience Consequences From Drinking? A Longitudinal Examination Among First‐Year College Students

“…The current study extended prior work examining alcohol use and willingness to experience negative consequences (e.g., Mallett et al., ) by considering couse of alcohol and marijuana. We sought to examine whether co‐user status (i.e., ALC + MJ vs. ALC‐only) would associate with willingness to experience consequences from drinking and, in turn, associate with experiencing harms.…”

“…Consistent with some prior work (e.g., Mallett et al., ), consequences were assessed using 9 items adapted from the Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (Read et al., ) and 3 items adapted from the Young Adult Alcohol Problems Screening Test (Hurlbut and Sher, ; Larimer et al., ). Participants were asked to indicate how many times they experienced each of the 12 consequences listed above as a result of drinking during the current semester (at T1, T2, and T3).…”

“…Behavior has been modeled as an antecedent to willingness in previous work, such as e‐cigarette use predicting willingness to smoke (Wills et al., ) and driver experience predicting willingness to engage in risky driving behavior (Harbeck and Glendon, ). Recent research studying college students has focused on willingness to experience consequences, finding that students’ willingness to experience physical, cognitive, and social consequences was associated with amount of drinking (Mallett et al., ) and actual consequences, even after adjusting for drinking level (Mallett et al., ). Individuals who have experienced a consequence from drinking also report being more willing to experience it in the future (Wicki et al., ), suggesting that some perceive the benefits of drinking outweigh the potential for experiencing consequences.…”