Previous research has shown that 1 in 3 college students engage in binge drinking with undergraduate students at a 4- year college most likely. Students can be sanctioned for violations and mandated to finish an alcohol education or risk reduction program. The purpose of the current study looked at factors associated with openness to benefiting from a mandated intervention.
The final study included 193 students from a public research university who were referred to the Office of Alcohol and Other Drugs after they violated an alcohol policy. Each participant completed a baseline assessment that included questions about alcohol use and response to event that lead to their sanction. They then asked them to answer questions about their receptivity to their online intervention they would soon be completing. They also asked participants about their alcohol consumption, attitudes towards drinking. Beliefs about importance of alcohol in college, norms, trait defensiveness, perceptions of the incident and social desirability.
51% of the sample met or exceeded the cutoff for hazardous drinking. Male sex was found to be associated with higher perceptions of peer injunctive norm and lower negative reactions to the incident. They also found self-deception and impression management were associated with fewer drinks and lower trait defensiveness. Overall, researchers found that greater receptivity to intervention was predicted by heavier alcohol consumption, positive attitude towards moderate drinking, perceptions that peers were less approving of heavy drinking, and taking personal responsibility for the incident that led to their alcohol policy violation.
Take Away: The purpose of the current study looked at factors associated with openness to benefiting from a mandated intervention. The final study included 193 students who were referred to the Office of Alcohol and Other Drugs after a violation. Each participant completed a baseline assessment and questions about their receptivity to the online intervention they would soon be completing. Other measures included alcohol consumption, attitudes towards drinking, beliefs about importance of alcohol in college, norms, trait defensiveness, perceptions of the incident and social desirability. 51% of the sample met or exceeded the cutoff for hazardous drinking. Overall, researchers found greater receptivity to intervention was predicted by heavier alcohol consumption, positive attitude towards moderate drinking, perceptions that peers were less approving of heavy drinking, and taking personal responsibility for the incident that led to their alcohol policy violation.