Studies examining representations of college drinking on social media have almost exclusively focused on Facebook. However, recent research suggests college students may be more influenced by peers’ alcohol-related posts on Instagram and Snapchat, two image-based platforms popular among this demographic. One potential explanation for this differential influence is that qualitative distinctions in the types of alcohol-related content posted by students on these three platforms may exist. Informed by undergraduate focus groups, this study examined the hypothesis that, of the three platforms, students tend to use Instagram most often for photos glamourizing drinking and Snapchat for incriminating photos of alcohol misuse and negative consequences. Undergraduate research assistants aided investigators in developing hypothetical vignettes and photographic examples of posts both glamorizing and depicting negative consequences associated with college drinking. In an online survey, vignette and photo stimuli were followed by counterbalanced paired comparisons that presented each possible pair of social media platforms. Undergraduates (N=196) selected the platform from each pair on which they would be more likely to see each post. Generalized Bradley-Terry models examined the probabilities of platform selections. As predicted, Instagram was seen as the most probable destination (and Facebook least probable) for photos depicting alcohol use as attractive and glamorous. Conversely, Snapchat was selected as the most probable destination (and Facebook least probable) for items depicting negative consequences associated with heavy drinking. Results suggest researchers aiming to mitigate the potential influences associated with college students’ glamorous and consequential alcohol-related photos posted social media posts should shift their focus from Facebook to Instagram and Snapchat.

Gamified interventions exploit the motivational characteristics of a game in order to provide prevention information and promote behavior change. Despite the modest effect sizes observed in increasingly popular web-based personalized normative feedback (PNF) alcohol interventions for college students, previous research has yet to consider how gamification might be used to enhance efficacy. This study examines whether a novel, gamified PNF intervention format, which includes a point-based reward system, the element of chance, and personal icons to visually represent users, is more effective in reducing short-term alcohol use than the standard web-based style of PNF currently used on college campuses. Two-hundred and thirty-seven college students were randomly assigned to receive either a standard brief, web-based PNF alcohol intervention or the same alcohol intervention components delivered within a Facebook-connected social game called CampusGANDR (Gamified Alcohol Norm Discovery and Readjustment). In both study conditions participants answered identical questions about their perceptions of peer drinking norms and own drinking and then received the same PNF slides. Two weeks following PNF delivery, participants again reported their perceptions of peers’ alcohol use and own drinking. Students in the CampusGANDR condition reported significantly reduced peer drinking norms and alcohol use at the two-week follow-up relative to students who received identical PNF delivered by standard online survey. Further, a mediation model demonstrated that this effect was driven by larger reductions in perceived drinking norms among participants assigned to receive CampusGANDR, relative to control. As web-based PNF is becoming an increasingly universal prevention strategy, findings from this study suggest gamification may represent one method by which intervention efficacy could be substantially improved. The potential methodological and economic benefits associated with gamified PNF interventions are emphasized and directions for future research are discussed.

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Our recent work (Boyle, Earle, LaBrie, & Smith, 2017) showed that the efficacy of personalized normative feedback-based (PNF) college alcohol interventions can be improved through the addition of gamified elements including points, chance, competition, and personal avatars. However, participants in that study were compensated with subject pool credit. In the current study, we piloted an upgraded, smartphone-based version of the game, which was designed to be truly self-sustaining (i.e., engaging enough that students play voluntarily without the presence of external motivators). First-year students were invited to play the game weekly for six rounds, with participants submitting and voting on their own questions each week and receiving a novel type of feedback in addition to standard descriptive PNF: opposite peers' judgments of participants' self-reported drinking behavior, or reflective norms. With no play-based incentives, 222 first-year college students voluntarily played the game, CampusGANDR. ANCOVA models revealed that, relative to participants randomized to receive feedback on control topics during the three intervention rounds, those who received both descriptive and reflective feedback on peer alcohol use had significantly reduced normative perceptions and reduced alcohol use two months post intervention. This was especially true among heavy drinkers. The results suggest that our gamified "GANDR" approach shows promise as a self-sustaining intervention and, further, that high-risk drinkers may benefit disproportionately from this methodology. Thus, self-sustaining interventions represent an encouraging avenue for future research and development and may hold the potential to impact risky college drinking on a large scale.

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A randomized controlled trial tested an interactive normative feedback-based intervention—codenamed “FITSTART”—delivered to groups of 50–100 parents of matriculating college students. The 60-minute session motivated parents to alter their alcohol-related communication by correcting normative misperceptions (e.g., about how approving other parents are of student drinking) with live-generated data. Then, tips were provided on discussing drinking effectively. Incoming students (N = 331; 62.2% female) completed baseline measures prior to new-student orientation. Next, at parent orientation in June, these students’ parents were assigned to either FITSTART or a control session. Finally, four months later, students completed a follow-up survey. Results revealed that students whose parents received FITSTART during the summer consumed less alcohol and were less likely to engage in heavy episodic drinking (HED) during the first month of college. These effects were mediated by FITSTART students' lower perceptions of their parents' approval of alcohol consumption. Further, FITSTART students who weren’t drinkers in high school were less likely to initiate drinking and to start experiencing negative consequences during the first month of college, while FITSTART students who had been drinkers in high school experienced fewer consequences overall and were significantly more likely to report that they did not experience any consequences whatsoever during the first month of college. Importantly, FITSTART is the first PBI to impact HED, one of the most well-studied indicators of risky drinking. Thus, interactive group normative feedback with parents is a promising approach for reducing college alcohol risk.

For first-year college students who have not yet initiated drinking, observing peers' alcohol-related posts to receive abundant "likes" may increase perceptions of peer approval for risky drinking.

University personnel tend to view “helicopter” parents as problematic. This paper presents an alternative view in which these highly engaged parents can instead be utilized productively. We describe and assess the fidelity of a novel program in which involved parents were effectively leveraged to mitigate student alcohol-related risk. The feasibility of utilizing similar programs at other schools is discussed as are implications for alcohol risk prevention.