A Randomized Trial of a Parent-Based Intervention on Drinking Behavior Among Incoming College Freshmen

Abstract

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)

Time-Varying Associations Between Conduct Problems and Alcohol Use in Adolescent Girls: The Moderating Role of Race

“…Thus, the linear slope variance was set to zero (cf. Ichiyama et al, 2009). The variances for the intercept and quadratic slope were D i = 1.65, z = 12.56, p <.001, and D q = .016, z = 8.14, p <.001, respectively, indicating substantial variation across girls in initial conduct problems and conduct problem trajectory.…”

Investigating Associations Between Perceived Parental Alcohol-Related Messages and College Student Drinking

“…Furthermore, the greater the amount of time parents communicated with their college-aged children on weekends, the less their children reported using alcohol in college (Small et al, 2011). In addition, parent-based alcohol interventions with college students that emphasize parentteen communication about alcohol use have found modest effects (Ichiyama et al, 2009;Turrisi et al, 2001;Wood et al, 2010).…”

NIAAA's Rapid Response to College Drinking Problems Initiative: Reinforcing the Use of Evidence-Based Approaches in College Alcohol Prevention

“…First, several of the studies involve randomized control trials, but these were limited to interventions that involved random assignment at either the individual level (Amaro et al, 2009;Cimini et al, 2009;Ichiyama et al, 2009;Schaus et al, 2009b) or group level . Randomized control trials of institutional or community-level interventions are possible, of course, but are extremely expensive.…”

“…Obviously, it is important to determine whether interventions are effective, not only in the short term but also over a longer period. Such studies, using growth curve modeling and other sophisticated analysis strategies (Ichiyama et al, 2009), also offer the opportunity to enhance our understanding of intra-individual variation over time; the cognitive, motivational, and behavioral changes that mediate reduced alcohol consumption; and how an intervention's effectiveness interacts with differing environmental conditions. Third, one-on-one brief motivational interviews are both labor-and time-intensive (Amaro et al, 2009;Schaus et al, 2009b).…”

“…As was the case in 2002, when the NIAAA task force issued its report, there remains a need for additional research designed to explore more effi cient ways of delivering these types of interventions so that they can be brought to scale at low cost (Larimer and Cronce, 2007). Particularly noteworthy in this regard is the parent-based intervention tested by Ichiyama et al (2009), an informational handbook developed by Turrisi and colleagues (2001) for the parents of students about to enter college. Parents received the intervention materials during the summer months before their teen began college, along with a request to read the materials, discuss the contents of the handbook, and implement the suggested activities with their teen before college matriculation.…”