Test of a Deviance Regulation Theory Intervention Among First Year College Student Drinkers: Differential Effects via Frequency and Quantity Norms

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: First-time-in-college (FTIC) students, or college freshmen, are at a heightened risk of experiencing alcohol-related consequences, as these individuals are relatively inexperienced with alcohol and have tremendous pressure to assimilate to new norms. The current study investigates the use of a Deviance Regulation Theory (DRT) intervention, presented in a web-based format, to increase the use of Protective Behavioral Strategies (PBS) among FTIC students. METHOD: FTIC students (n = 157) completed weekly surveys for six weeks, which examined alcohol use and consequences, PBS use, and perceived PBS norms. Participants were randomly assigned one of three conditions: 1) a positive-framed message about individuals who do use PBS, 2) a negative-framed message about individuals who do not use PBS, or 3) a control group that received no messaging. RESULTS: Results suggest the negative-framed message increases PBS use across time for individuals high PBS norms, consistent with DRT. The positive-frame message did not change PBS use across time. However, the positive message was associated with more PBS use at the weekly-level when an individual had low PBS norms, consistent with DRT. Results also suggest PBS norms grew across time. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide initial support for the use of a DRT prevention program for FTIC students.

Development and validation of the Personal Assessment of Responsible Drinking Identity (PARDI) with a college student sample.

“…However, more recent interventions that sought to increase PBS by leveraging personal and social identity have shown more promise (see Dvorak, et al, 2015Dvorak, et al, , 2018. Leary et al (2020) suggested that this may be the result of changes in personal identity around safe drinking. However, to date, this has not been evaluated as there is no validated measure of safe drinking identity.…”

“…In contrast, recent interventions that leverage theories of identity may be better suited to lasting and enduring change. For example, deviance regulation theory (DRT) is grounded in social and personal identity theory (Blanton & Christie, 2003) and interventions incorporating DRT have shown efficacious long-term outcomes (Dvorak et al, 2015(Dvorak et al, , 2017Leary et al, 2020), perhaps due to identity change. Similarly, Caldwell et al (2018) suggested assessing changes in identity, rather than changes in behavior, will ultimately predict long-term outcome within interventions.…”