Date of Award

Fall 12-1-2001

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Thomas J. Johnson

Abstract

Binge drinking is not only responsible for the leading cause of death of 18-21 year olds (alcohol-related accidents), but is also associated with alcohol dependence, sexual assault, and school failure. Little research has addressed one of the major contexts in which college binge drinking occurs, namely participation in drinking games. The current study used a quasiexperimental pre-post design to examine the effectiveness of a drinking game intervention based on Marlatt's (1996) Harm Reduction model of prevention. Six male residence hall floors and seven fraternities were randomly identified as experimental groups and three floors and three fraternities were designated as controls. Each floor and fraternity yielded about ten individuals per data collection session. One hundred and eighty-eight participants completed both pre-test and post-test measures. Two weeks after the pre-test, about two-thirds (133) underwent education/interventions (half in an intervention that stresses skill acquisition and half in an intervention that stresses risk reduction), and about two weeks later all participants were again reassessed. It was predicted that, relative to those in the control group, students in the experimental groups would show more accurate estimates of risk and an increased confidence regarding their ability to change their behavior in drinking game situations. Within the intervention conditions, those in the risk-reduction group were predicted to show more accurate predictions of risk and those in the skills-acquisition group were expected to have higher ratings of self -efficacy. These predictions were not supported and the only significant effect (higher estimates of the seriousness of drinking game risks within the skills, but not risk, intervention) was inconsistent with the prediction. Weaknesses of the design will be discussed and suggestions will be made for future research.

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