Screening and brief intervention for high-risk college student drinkers: Results from a 2-year follow-up assessment.

This randomized controlled trial evaluated the efficacy of a brief intervention designed to reduce the harmful consequences of heavy drinking among high-risk college students. Students screened for risk while in their senior year of high school (188 women and 160 men) were randomly assigned to receive an individualized motivational brief intervention in their freshman year of college or to a no-treatment control condition. A normative group selected from the entire screening pool provided a natural history comparison. Follow-up assessments over a 2-year period showed significant reductions in both drinking rates and harmful consequences, favoring students receiving the intervention. Although high-risk students continued to experience more alcohol problems than the natural history comparison group over the 2-year period, most showed a decline in problems over time, suggesting a developmental maturational effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do animal models provide a valid analogue for human drug lapse and relapse? Comment on Leri and Stewart (2002).

Prior research on animal models of drug relapse has demonstrated that passive exposure to an addictive substance following acquisition and extinction of drug self-administration has a "priming effect" on subsequent drug use. The validity of this animal analogue of human relapse can be criticized, however, because most human drug relapses are precipitated by the user's voluntary self-administration of a substance. The results of the present study by F. Leri and J. Stewart (see record 2002-06535-001) clearly show that if the initial heroin lapse is self-administered by rats, subsequent heroin seeking during the relapse test is significantly greater than if the heroin is externally administered. These results help bridge the gap between animal and human models of drug use and highlight the significance of both behavioral and environmental determinants of relapse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Secondary prevention with college drinkers: Evaluation of an alcohol skills training program.

This study evaluated secondary prevention approaches for young adults (N?=?36, mean age 23 yrs) at risk for alcohol problems. Ss were randomly assigned to cognitive-behavioral alcohol skills training, a didactic alcohol information program, or assessment only. The skills program included training in blood alcohol level estimation, limit setting, and relapse prevention skills. All Ss maintained daily drinking records during the 8-wk intervention and for 1 wk at each follow-up. Repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) found a significant reduction over 1-yr follow-up in self-reported alcohol consumption for the total sample. For all drinking measures, the directional findings consistently favored skills training. Despite overall reductions, most Ss continued to report occasional heavy drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Episodic heavy drinking among college students: Methodological issues and longitudinal perspectives.

Longitudinal data from 81 undergraduates (47 women and 34 men) were used for concurrent and predictive validation of binge drinking measures. Results suggest relative strengths and weaknesses of different binge definitions. The conventional binge measure of >5 drinks in a row (≥4 drinks in a row for women) yielded higher prevalence estimates and higher sensitivity but less specificity than other quantity-frequency measures using alcohol-related problems as the criterion. Alternative binge measures resulted in lower prevalence rates and sensitivity but higher specificity for alcohol-related problems. Only a subset of students exhibited heavy drinking patterns consistently over time. Such consistent heavy drinking was significantly more strongly associated with increased risk of adverse alcohol-related consequences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preventing Substance Abuse in American Indian and Alaska Native Youth: Promising Strategies for Healthier Communities.

Substance abuse has had profoundly devastating effects on the health and well-being of American Indians and Alaska Natives. A wide variety of intervention methods has been used to prevent or stem the development of alcohol and drug problems in Indian youth, but there is little empirical research evaluating these efforts. This article is an overview of the published literature on substance use prevention among Indian adolescents, providing background epidemiological information, a review of programs developed specifically for Indian adolescents, and recommendations for the most promising prevention strategies currently in practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Test-retest reliability of alcohol measures: Is there a difference between Internet-based assessment and traditional methods?

This study compared Web-based assessment techniques with traditional paper-based methods of commonly used measures of alcohol use. Test-retest reliabilities were obtained, and tests of validity were conducted. A total of 255 participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: paper-based (P&P), Web-based (Web), or Web-based with interruption (Web-I). Follow-up assessments 1 week later indicated reliabilities ranging from .59 to .93 within all measures and across all assessment methods. Significantly high test-retest reliability coefficients support the use of these measures for research and clinical applications. Furthermore, no significant differences were found between assessment techniques, suggesting that Web-based methods are a suitable alternative to more traditional methods. This cost-efficient alternative has the advantage of minimizing data collection and entry errors while increasing survey accessibility. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fear of interpersonal evaluation as a determinant of alcohol consumption in male social drinkers.

Investigated the effects of fear of interpersonal evaluation on drinking behavior. 64 male undergraduates classified as heavy social drinkers were assigned to 1 of 8 conditions in a 2 * 2 * 2 factorial design. All Ss participated in a wine-tasting task designed as an unobtrusive measure of drinking behavior. Half of the Ss were led to believe that they would take part in a 2nd experiment in which they would be evaluated by a group of women, and half did not expect to be evaluated in the 2nd study. Ss were also classified as either internally or externally oriented based on their scores on the locus of control scale. For the 3rd factor, 1/2 of the Ss were given an opportunity to exercise some situational control prior to the impending evaluation, and 1/2 of them were deprived of this control. Results show that Ss expecting to be evaluated drank significantly more alcohol than low-fear controls, but the locus of control and situational control factors did not significantly affect drinking rates. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Skill training with alcoholics.

Evaluated a short-term skill-training intervention that taught male alcoholics generation of appropriate behaviors in problematic situations. 40 alcoholics (mean age, 45.6 yrs) engaged in inpatient treatment were divided into 3 groups—a skill-training group, a discussion group, and a no-additional-treatment control group. A verbal role-playing measure of responses to situations associated with drinking behavior and relapse (Situational Competency Test, SCT) showed significant performance improvement of the training group as compared to the control groups. All Ss also completed the Shipley-Institute of Living Scale for measuring Intellectual Impairment and the Drinking Profile prior to treatment. A 1-yr posttreatment follow-up indicated that skill training decreased the duration and severity of relapse episodes. Behavior on the SCT predicted posttreatment adjustment. Although there are some limitations to skill training as implemented, results suggest its utility as one component of a multimodal behavioral approach to relapse in problem drinking and other problem areas such as drug addiction, smoking, obesity, and crime. (36 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of anxiety arousal on the consumption of alcohol by alcoholics and social drinkers.

Tested the hypothesis that the arousal of anxiety would lead to an increase in the alcoholic's consumption of alcohol. 20 male nonabstinent alcoholics and 20 male social drinkers were engaged in an alcohol taste rating task. High and low levels of state anxiety were induced by threatening Ss with either a painful or a nonpainful electric shock. Levels of trait anxiety were also assessed using the Neuroticism scale of the Eysenck Personality Inventory. Alcoholics consumed significantly more alcohol than social drinkers in the tasting task, but the amounts consumed by both groups were unrelated either to the anxiety manipulation factor or trait anxiety scores. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for anxiety-reduction models of alcoholism. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating contingency managment with relapse prevention skills: Commnet on Silverman et al. (2001).

The study by K. Silverman, D. Svikis, E. Robles, M. L. Stitzer, and G. E. Bigelow (see record 2001-14365-002) demonstrates the effectiveness of a voucher-based reinforcement intervention in the treatment of pregnant women in treatment for substance abuse. The effects of prolonged initial abstinence as a form of "sobriety sampling" may serve to enhance long-term recovery by providing patients with rewards for maintaining abstinence. Several limitations to the study are addressed, including selection of the treatment sample and the absence of any follow-up data on drug use or relapse following completion of the 24-week treatment program. Recommendations are made to enhance maintenance of abstinence by providing coping-skill training for relapse prevention as an addition to the contingency management approach. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)