Test of moderating factors of brief interventions for hazardous alcohol use among college students

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: Half of all college students engage in drinking practices associated with a host of academic, interpersonal, legal, and health-related problems. Brief Motivational Interventions (BMIs) are programs aimed at reducing college student drinking and related consequences. While a great body of literature exists in support of these interventions, literature has yet to determine what individual characteristics of hazardous college drinkers moderate the efficacy of BMIs. In the current study, hazardous college drinkers (n = 152) were randomly assigned to a control condition, a computer delivered BMI, or to a person-administered BMI. Data were collected for drinking frequency, quantity, and associated consequences at baseline and at 10-week follow-up assessments. Additionally, data on the proposed moderators of BMI efficacy were collected at baseline assessment, including gender, readiness to change, and drinking status. Additionally, characteristics specific to the mode of BMI administration (i.e., computer or person-administered) were examined, including attitudes toward and familiarity with computers, fear of negative evaluation, and social interaction anxiety.

Findings and Conclusions: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were conducted to examine if the proposed factors moderated the efficacy of the BMIs. No clinically meaningful moderating relationships were observed for any of the proposed moderators. Overall, results show that BMI efficacy is robust to the proposed moderators in the current study.