Baseline Characteristics of College Freshmen Enrolled in an Alcohol Intervention Program

Abstract

This study is a baseline analysis of the demographic and behavioral characteristics of freshmen students recruited to enter a longitudinal multi-component intervention program based on the Brief Alcohol Screening, and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) program. The aim of the study was to determine the associations among the participants' gender, ethnicity, age, drinking, psychological problems, sexual contacts, and illegal substance use. Freshmen participants (n = 186) were between the ages of 18 and 20 with a mean age of 18.51 ± 0.62, and 37.6% of the participants were males. Three surveys were administered at baseline: the Daily Drinking Questionnaire (DDQ; Collins, Parks, & Marlatt, 1985 ); Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI; White & Labouvie, 1989 ), Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA; Office of Management and Budget [OMB], 1993 ), Client Outcome Measures for Discretionary Programs and Best Practices grantees. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the behavioral characteristics. During past 30 days participants on average consumed alcohol on 7.3 ± 5.2 days, used illegal substances 3.0 ± 7.2 days and had 5.3 ± 7.0 sexual contacts and less 2.1 ± 4.6 unprotected sexual contacts (USC). Results of this baseline analysis demonstrate the diversity of the program participant demographic characteristics and behavioral patterns. This study contributes valuable implications for the design of interventions programs to address high-risk behaviors among freshmen college students.

Drinking Motives as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Dating Violence Victimization and Alcohol Problems

“…Higher scores correspond to more frequent alcohol problems. The RAPI is one of the most widely used measures of alcohol problems among college students (e.g., Herschle, McChargue, Killop, Stoltenberg, & Highland, 2012;Kazemi, Sun, Nies, Dmochowski, & Walford, 2012) and has demonstrated good validity and reliability. RAPI items were recoded as dichotomous before being summed for a total score; thus, scores could range from 0-23.…”

Integrating mHealth mobile applications to reduce high risk drinking among underage students

“…Freshman college students are at particularly high risk of alcohol misuse and its negative consequences. [3][4][5] Given the seriousness of these consequences, reaching college students with alcohol-intervention programmes is crucial.…”

Brief motivational intervention for heavy drinking mandated and voluntary freshmen: A 1-year follow-up assessment

“…Although many interventions to address heavy drinking among freshmen have produced mixed results, several brief motivational interventions (MIs), including individual, group, and computer-delivered programs, have shown promise (Alfonso, Hall, & Dunn, 2013;Carey, Carey, Henson, Maisto, & DeMartini, 2011;DeMartini, Prince, & Carey, 2013;Kazemi et al, 2012;Larimer & Cronce, 2007). However, although MI is promising, longitudinal studies comparing its effectiveness with mandated and nonmandated (i.e., voluntary) freshman year students are lacking (Barnett & Read, 2005;Palmer, Kilmer, Ball, & Larimer, 2010;Terlecki, Larimer, & Copeland, 2010).…”

“…More than one third of college students report engaging in binge drinking (4þ/5þ drinks in a single sitting for females/males) at least once in the past 2 weeks, and 8% (females) to 20% (males) consume at least twice that much on a binge (i.e., 8þ/10þ drinks; Johnston, O'Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2012;White, Kraus, & Swartzwelder, 2006). Often drinking beyond the binge threshold, freshmen college students are at particularly high risk for alcohol abuse and its negative consequences (Haas et al, 2013;Kazemi, Sun, Nies, Dmochowski, & Walford, 2012). The freshman year brings greater risks for several important reasons, including the absence of adult supervision and peer pressure to conform to drinking behaviors (Hoeppner et al, 2012).…”