Global drinking,local thinking: More local/regional alcohol prevention and related research is needed

A globalization of drinking seems to be taking place. Alcohol prevention and related research become more and more a topic of national and international interest. This in itself is a positive development. However, local and regional efforts are necessary too. This article makes a plea for a stronger emphasis on local and regional research. Different goals in local/regional alcohol research are distinguished.     

Introduction: community action research and the prevention of alcohol problems at the local level

Many community action projects from around the world exist to reduce alcohol problems at the local level. The role of research within this international movement is discussed within this introduction for the entire special issue on community action research in alcohol problem prevention. Previous community prevention programs have utilized a variety of prevention strategies: (a) an educational approach which focuses on changing behavior through changes in knowledge, attitudes, and information; and (b) an environmental approach which focuses on changing behavior through changes in the social and economic systems within a community. Many projects have used both approaches. This special issue provides a current overview of many types of community action projects from different countries and summarizes what has been learned to date from these experiences.     

Misperceiving the college drinking norm and related problems: a nationwide study of exposure to prevention information, perceived norms and student alcohol misuse

OBJECTIVE: This study examined (1) the prevalence of misperceptions of college student drinking norms across campuses nationwide, (2) the importance of perceived norms in predicting high-risk drinking, (3) the association of exposure to alcohol education information with students' perceptions of campus drinking norms and (4) the differences in high-risk drinking rates between schools where exposure to alcohol information is associated with more accurately perceived norms and schools where exposure to information is unrelated to perceptions or is associated with greater misperceptions. METHOD: Multivariate analyses were used to analyze an aggregate database of the National College Health Assessment survey administered to 76,145 students from 130 colleges and universities nationwide from spring 2000 through spring 2003. RESULTS: Regardless of the actual campus drinking norm, a consistently large percentage of students nationwide overestimated the quantity of alcohol consumed by their peers. Students' perception of their campus drinking norm was the strongest predictor of the amount of alcohol personally consumed in comparison with the influence of all demographic variables. Perception of the norm was also a much stronger predictor when compared with the actual campus norm. Reduced levels of high-risk drinking and negative consequences were found among students attending the relatively few schools where exposure to prevention information was associated with less exaggerated perceptions of the drinking norm compared with students attending other schools. CONCLUSIONS: Misperceived drinking norms are a pervasive problem. Schools that do not seek to reduce these misperceptions with their prevention information are neglecting a potentially powerful component of prevention.     

Expanding research on the role of alcohol consumption and related risks in the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS

This article is a review of some of the major epidemiological, behavioral, biological, and integrative prevention research issues and priorities in the area of HIV/AIDS and alcohol consumption. Drinking alcohol increases both the risk for infection with HIV and related illnesses and the morbidity and mortality of patients who progress to AIDS. New and improved measurement procedures have helped in assessment of the complex patterns of alcohol use, identification of intervening explanatory mechanisms for risk behaviors and contexts, and determination of intervention outcomes. Both the direct and indirect effects of alcohol misuse appear to be major contributors to both the risk for infection with HIV and the transmission of HIV/AIDS at the individual and population levels. There is increasing evidence that perhaps no level of alcohol consumption is "safe" for those who are HIV infected and receiving antiretroviral treatment. Interdisciplinary basic behavioral and biomedical research is needed to develop comprehensive culturally appropriate strategies for programs that can be effectively delivered in community contexts in the United States and abroad and that focus on the integration of our understanding of individual behaviors, high-risk group membership, biological mechanisms, and the social and physical environments that place individuals at risk for HIV infection. High-priority topics include improving adherence to antiretroviral medications, prevention of infection in young minority women in the United States, and treatment of HIV+ pregnant women who are alcohol abusers to prevent adverse fetal outcomes, which is an international focus in under-resourced settings in Africa.     

Depressive symptoms,ruminative thinking,drinking motives,and alcohol outcomes: A multiple mediation model among college students in three countries

BackgroundRecent research suggests that ruminative thinking (specifically problem-focused thoughts) may explain why individuals engage in drinking to cope (DTC) when dealing with depressive symptoms; which in turn leads to increased negative alcohol-related consequences. Cross-cultural studies addressing these phenomena are scarce.ObjectivesThe present study cross-culturally tested whether four rumination facets (problem-focused thoughts, counterfactual thinking, repetitive thoughts, and anticipatory thoughts) uniquely mediate the relationships between depressive symptoms and drinking motives/alcohol outcomes in a multicultural sample of college student drinkers (n = 1429) from Spain, Argentina, and the U.S.MethodStructural equation modeling was conducted to test the models, controlling for sex. Further, we conducted invariance testing to determine whether our models were culturally-specific or culturally-universal.ResultsWithin both proposed models, no rumination facet uniquely mediated the relationship between depressive symptoms and drinking motives. However, an exploratory model with a second-order latent factor of ruminative thinking did significantly mediate these associations (exception was conformity motives). Further, there were two significant double-mediated associations that suggested that increased depressive symptoms is associated with increased ruminative thinking, which is associated with higher DTC motives, which in turn is associated with higher alcohol consumption and negative alcohol-related consequences. All models were found to be invariant across countries and sex, suggesting that these associations may be relatively universal.ConclusionsRumination is relevant to understand the increased vulnerability of college drinkers to exhibit greater alcohol consumption and negative consequences via DTC motives when dealing with depressive symptoms.     

Personal goals as predictors of college student drinking motives,alcohol use and related problems

OBJECTIVE: Although there has been extensive research examining drinking motives, relatively little of that research has focused on those factors that might underlie drinking motives. The present study examines whether nonalcohol-related motives (personal goals) can predict drinking motives, self-reported drinking and alcohol-related problems in a college student sample. METHOD: For an experiment on "attitudes and drinking," 290 volunteer undergraduate students (169 women and 121 men) completed measures of daily goal functioning (Personal Projects Analysis), drinking motives (Drinking Motives Questionnaire), frequency and quantity of alcohol consumed and alcohol-related problems (Drinkers Inventory of Consequences). RESULTS: Using path analysis, it was found that nonalcohol-related goals serve as significant distal predictors of alcohol-related problems, with their effects almost entirely mediated by drinking motives and/or drinking level. Perceptions of life goals involving goal self-efficacy, meaningfulness and social support appear to be significant protective factors, and goal-related distress is a significant risk factor. CONCLUSIONS: The present study extends previous research by focusing on a more idiographic, personally meaningful manifestation of motivation through the evaluation of nonalcohol-related personal goals. The daily pursuits of college students were shown to be predictive of drinking and drinking-related problems, especially as mediated through drinking motives. The findings suggest that several goal mechanisms could be considered for their potential role in improving interventions.     

Differential effects of baseline drinking status: Effects of an alcohol prevention program targeting students and/or parents (PAS) among weekly drinking students

The effects of an intervention designed to prevent onset of weekly drinking in non drinking students (PAS) were investigated in the group of students that was already drinking at baseline. A cluster randomized trial was used including 3,490 Dutch early adolescents (M age = 12.66, SD = 0.49) randomized over four conditions; 1) parent intervention, 2) student intervention, 3) combined intervention and 4) control group. Outcome measures were amount and growth of weekly alcohol drinking measured 10, 22 and 34 months after baseline. The combined intervention significantly curbed the growth of drinking among both non-drinkers (the target group of the intervention) and drinkers at baseline. Overall, less strong increases of drinking over time are found among non-drinkers compared to drinkers at baseline. Thus, the combined PAS intervention is also effective in curbing adolescents' drinking behaviour in those who already were drinking at baseline. Broad implementation of the combined parent–student intervention is recommended.