Protective behavioral strategies as a context-specific mediator: A multilevel examination of within- and between-person associations of daily drinking.

Abstract

Research indicates that a drinker’s environmental and social context can be differentially associated with drinking outcomes. Further, although many researchers have identified that more frequent use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS) is associated with lower alcohol consumption and negative consequences, scant research has examined how one’s drinking context may promote or hinder PBS use. The present study examined how the context of drinking each day (i.e., where and with whom) is associated with level of consumption and reported alcohol-related problems among n = 284 college drinkers (69.0% female) directly, as well as indirectly through the use of PBS. Two different dimensions of PBS are examined (i.e., “Limits” or limiting consumption, and “Avoidance” or avoiding alcohol in general / specific alcohol situations), as well as their relationship with daily drinking. Moreover, we explored these relationships intra-individually (within-person across time), as well as inter-individually (between people). Daily drinking was assessed using a weekly diary design. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, we found that environmental context (i.e., drinking at a bar or party) is associated with heavier alcohol use directly and indirectly through PBS that involve limiting one’s drinking; these effects occurred only at the daily (within-person) level. Additionally, social context (i.e., drinking with friends) predicts elevated drinking but is unrelated to PBS use. Similar findings were present for alcohol-related problems, controlling for consumption level. College student drinking interventions may benefit from a focus on increasing the use of PBS within potentially risky drinking environments to help reduce problematic alcohol use.

Feasibility, acceptability, and validity of crowdsourcing for collecting longitudinal alcohol use data

“…We selected weekly rather than a daily diary design to help reduce participant burden and cost while maintaining the density of data collection. This selection likely helped to increase the possible temporal window of sampling and is consistent with methods used in other diary sampling studies (e.g., Braitman et al, 2017). A weekly and prospectively collected assessment window also likely resulted in less recall bias than retrospective recall of "typical" behavior as is used in cross-sectional work.…”

“…Comparisons in racial composition between this sample and those used in the previously noted comparator studies (see discussion of attrition rates above) also highlight some ways in which mTurk may not markedly differ from other forms of convenience sampling. The percentage of white participants across these studies varied from 63.4% (Braitman et al, ) to 96.9% (Kranzler et al, ). Surprisingly, 90.3% of participants in the nationally representative National Study of Daily Experiences were white (Almeida et al, ), a percentage that exceeds that of this study (82.7%).…”

“…Although it is difficult to compare response rates across the extant literature given its size and the heterogeneity in procedures and populations, comparisons to some other studies using intensive longitudinal alcohol report may help highlight the relative feasibility and success of the methods used here. These comparisons were selected to reflect studies that share some features with the current study or have other desirable aspects for future work, including one study using data from the nationally representative National Study of Daily Experiences (Almeida, Wethington, & Kessler, 2002), two using a similar weekly recording design (Braitman, Linden-Carmichael, & Henson, 2017;Tremblay et al, 2010), and two recruiting a clinically relevant sample of individuals enrolled in a pharmacotherapy trial (Bold et al 2016;Kranzler et al, 2009). Response rates across these studies ranged from 49.2% to 87.5%.…”

Drinking contexts and their association with acute alcohol‐related harm: A systematic review of event‐level studies on adults' drinking occasions

“…Drinking in licensed premises is linked to increased harm, although students experience less harm in restaurants . Occasions involving greater numbers of locations are also more likely to result in acute harm .…”

Contextual characteristics of adults’ drinking occasions and their association with levels of alcohol consumption and acute alcohol‐related harm: a mapping review

“…Common company characteristics measured were the number of people at the drinking occasion and the type of people involved (e.g. family or friends ). Venue characteristics include the number of different venues ; whether they are in the on‐trade, off‐trade or both ; and the type of venue, such as in a pub versus at home .…”