College alcohol citations result in modest reductions in student drinking

Abstract

College students who are cited for violating campus alcohol policy are often fined or sanctioned to complete an intervention or public service. While some interventions have been found efficacious for mandated students, it is possible that being cited for an alcohol-related incident alone may be sufficient to reduce alcohol consumption. The purpose of this study was to investigate the course of alcohol consumption patterns following a citation for an alcohol policy violation. Participants were college students (N = 445) who received a citation for a campus alcohol policy violation at a small northeastern liberal arts college. Participants completed a Timeline Follow-Back (TLFB) indicating their daily alcohol use 2 weeks prior to the citation through 2 weeks after the citation. Results indicated that participants decreased their alcohol use following a citation event. However, the reduction in alcohol consumption was modest, suggesting that the citation event itself has a very temporary influence on the drinking of college students. Additional research is needed to reconcile these findings with those from other studies that found a more meaningful citation effect.

Drinking reductions following alcohol-related sanctions are associated with social norms among college students.

“…Students who violate campus alcohol policies tend to be riskier drinkers (Fromme & Corbin, 2004; LaBrie, Tawalbeh, & Earleywine, 2006), and are often required to participate in mandated interventions (Barnett & Read, 2005). Many of these students are motivated to change and some will reduce their drinking behavior, even prior to intervention (Barnett, Goldstein, Murphy, Colby, & Monti, 2006; Carey, Henson, Carey, & Maisto, 2009; Hustad et al, 2011; Morgan, White, & Mun, 2008; White, Mun, & Morgan, 2008; Wray, Simons, & Dvorak, 2011). However, not all students change.…”

Mandated college students’ response to sequentially administered alcohol interventions in a randomized clinical trial using stepped care.

“…Namely, students in the ‘Bad Incident’ group were more likely to respond to the BA session (38% reported lower risk drinking) than those in the ‘Why Me?’ and ‘So What?’ groups (6% and 4%, respectively). Considered in the context of research indicating that a significant subset of mandated students reduce their alcohol use on their own prior to intervention or that they require very little additional intervention (Carey et al, 2009; Hustad et al, 2011; Morgan, White, & Mun, 2008), these findings suggest that a peer-led brief advice session may be an appropriate intervention for a considerable number of mandated students who are light drinkers and/or have significantly reduced their use as a result of the referral incident. Indeed, there has also been increased understanding of what aspects of the referral incident can contribute to these reductions.…”

The impact of defensiveness and incident reactions on post-sanction drinking behaviors among mandated students

“…Pre-intervention reductions were also noted in a sample of students mandated for minor infractions, with greater reductions associated with heavier drinkers and those with greater readiness to change and pre-sanction consequences (Carey et al, 2009). Finally, one study (Hustad et al, 2011) found heavier drinking rates on the sanction day compared with the typical pattern and slight reductions for the 2 weeks post-sanction, though drinking levels remained above hazardous levels for both men and women.…”

“…brief motivational interventions (BMI), cognitive-behavioral skills, and norms clarifications; Cronce & Larimer, 2011; Larimer & Cronce, 2002; 2007; NIAAA, 2002), study findings from mandated samples tend to be less robust as compared to their non-mandated peers. In general, research with mandated samples has demonstrated greater reductions following BMIs among heavier drinkers (LaBrie, Lamb, Pedersen, & Quinlan, 2006; LaBrie, Thompson, Huchting, Lac, & Buckley, 2007) and modest post-sanction effects in lighter drinkers (Borsari et al, 2012; Hustad et al, 2011). However, studies with mandated students tend to report smaller decreases (and occasionally even increases) in drinking behaviors and smaller effect sizes when drinking reductions are detected (e.g., Carey, Henson, Carey, & Maisto, 2009; Cimini et al, 2009; Doumas, Workman, Smith, & Navarro, 2011; Hustad et al, 2014; LaBrie et al, 2006).…”