Lindsey M. Rodriguez

Event-specific drinking among college students.

College represents a period of risk for heavy drinking and experiencing unwanted consequences associated with drinking. Previous research has identified specific events, including holidays (e.g., New Years), school breaks (e.g., Spring Break) and personally relevant events (e.g., 21st birthdays), that are associated with elevated risk of heavy drinking and negative alcohol-related consequences. The systematic evaluation of relative risk offers insights into event-specific drinking and an empirical basis upon which to consider allocation of limited prevention resources. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to provide a comparative index of drinking across a wide range of holidays and compare holiday drinking to 21st birthday drinking. Participants were 1,124 students (55% female) who had turned 21 within the previous three weeks in 2008 and provided 90-day retrospective reports of their drinking using the Timeline Follow-back. Results based on a hurdle mixed model for blood alcohol content revealed several holidays that stand out for elevated drinking, including New Years Eve and July 4th, whereas other holidays appear more similar to weekend drinking, such as Spring Break (approximately last week of March) and graduation (mid-June). Drinking on holidays or special days was substantially lower than drinking on 21st birthdays. Results are discussed in terms of practical applications for targeted intervention efforts on college campuses toward specific events where elevated drinking is known to occur.

Self-Determination Theory and Romantic Relationship Processes

Self-determination theory can be viewed as a theory of optimal relationship development and functioning. We examine the concept of self that is employed in self-determination theory and explain how its unique definition allows an important and novel characterization of investing one’s “self” in romantic relationships. A self-determined perspective on romantic relationships integrates several theories on romantic relationship development, but also goes beyond them by explicitly articulating the personality, developmental, and situational factors that facilitate optimal self-investment and relational functioning. Self-determination promotes openness rather than defensiveness and facilitates perspective-taking, authenticity, and support of close others. The dyadic context of romantic relationships affords great opportunity for theoretical development and integration of self-determination theory with current theories of interdependence and relational well-being.

Efficacy of personalized normative feedback as a brief intervention for college student gambling: a randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE Social influences on gambling among adolescents and adults have been well documented and may be particularly evident among college students, who have higher rates of problem and pathological gambling relative to the general population. Personalized normative feedback (PNF) is a brief intervention designed to correct misperceptions regarding the prevalence of problematic behavior by showing individuals engaging in such behaviors that their own behavior is atypical with respect to actual norms. The current randomized controlled trial evaluated a computer-delivered PNF intervention for problem gambling college students. METHOD Following a baseline assessment, 252 college student gamblers scoring 2+ on the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) were randomly assigned to receive PNF or attention-control feedback. Follow-up assessments were completed 3 and 6 months postintervention. RESULTS Results indicated significant intervention effects in reducing perceived norms for quantities lost and won, and in reducing actual quantity lost and gambling problems at the 3-month follow-up. All intervention effects except reduced gambling problems remained at the 6-month follow-up. Mediation results indicated that changes in perceived norms at 3 months mediated the intervention effects. Further, the intervention effects were moderated by self-identification with other student gamblers, suggesting that PNF worked better at reducing gambling for those who more strongly identified with other student gamblers. CONCLUSIONS Results support the use of PNF as a stand-alone brief intervention for at-risk gambling students. Extending this approach more broadly may provide an accessible, empirically supported gambling prevention option for universities and related institutions.

Problematic alcohol use and marital adjustment: An interdependence theory perspective

This article reviews current literature examining problematic alcohol use and marital distress and introduces a new alcohol and marriage model within the theoretical framework of interdependence theory. Although marriage is generally associated with decreased heavy drinking and alcohol problems, many couples develop and maintain alcohol use disorders during committed relationships and marriage. When one person is affected by an alcohol use disorder, it both affects and is affected by their close relationships, particularly the relationship with their partner or spouse. While the causal connections between problematic drinking and marital distress are complex and only partially understood, available evidence demonstrates that the two problems often exacerbate each other, forming a detrimental cycle. Research using cross-sectional and longitudinal methods reveals covariation between the two as well as support for both causal directions. New models using the Actor–Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) are presented and structured around the concept that these reverse temporal effects may be operating through different mechanisms and with different moderators. Thus, determinants are presented for each directional effect. Finally, avenues for future research are discussed.

Normative Misperceptions of Alcohol Use Among Substance Abusing Army Personnel

This research examines discrepancies among perceived norms, actual norms, and own behavior for alcohol in the military. Participants included 159 substance-abusing, active-duty U.S. Army personnel. Participants’ estimates of the average number of drinks consumed by Army personnel were significantly higher than the actual norm. Participants also overestimated the percentage of Army personnel who have engaged in heavy episodic drinking relative to the actual percentage. Participants’ own drinking was associated with their overestimations of other military personnel drinking but not other civilian drinking. Results provide foundational support for the use of military-specific normative feedback as a potential intervention strategy.

Perceptions of partner drinking problems, regulation strategies and relationship outcomes☆

The current research evaluates how perceptions of ones partners drinking problem relate to attempts to regulate partner behavior and relationship functioning, and whether this varies by perceptions of ones own drinking. New measures are offered for Thinking about your Partners Drinking (TPD) and Partner Management Strategies (PMS). Participants included 702 undergraduates who had been in a romantic relationship for at least three months. Participants completed an online survey assessing perceptions of problematic drinking for ones self and partner, ways in which attempts were made to regulate or restrain their partners drinking, relationship outcomes (i.e., satisfaction, commitment, trust, and need fulfillment), and alcohol use and consequences for self and partner. Factor analyses supported a single factor for Thinking about your Partners Drinking (TPD) and two factors for the Partner Management Strategies (PMS) scale (i.e., punishment and reward). Results using structural equation modeling indicated that perceiving ones partner to have a drinking problem was associated with lower relationship functioning. Further, this association was mediated by strategies using punishment aimed at changing ones partners drinking, but was not mediated by strategies using rewards. Finally, moderation results suggested that this relationship was not as detrimental for participants who perceived they also had an alcohol problem. In sum, perceiving ones partner to have a drinking problem was associated with relationship problems through punishing regulation strategies, and was weaker among individuals who also perceived themselves to have a drinking problem.

A multisite randomized trial of normative feedback for heavy drinking: Social comparison versus social comparison plus correction of normative misperceptions.

OBJECTIVE Given widespread alcohol misuse among college students, numerous intervention programs have been developed, including personalized normative feedback (PNF). Most research evaluating PNF assumes that presenting ones own perceived norms is necessary to correct normative misperceptions and thereby reduce drinking. Alternatively, simply providing social comparison information showing that one drinks more than others may be sufficient. The present study evaluated the efficacy of full PNF (ones own drinking, campus drinking rates, and perceived norms) and a partial personalized social comparison feedback (PSCF; ones own drinking and campus drinking rates) in a randomized trial among heavy-drinking college students. METHOD Participants included 623 heavy-drinking students from 3 universities. Assessments occurred at baseline and 3- and 6-months postbaseline. RESULTS Primary analyses examined differences across 4 drinking outcomes (drinks per week, total drinks past month, frequency of past month drinking, and negative alcohol-related consequences) at 3- and 6-month follow-ups controlling for the baseline variable. Results revealed significant reductions across all alcohol consumption outcomes at 3 months in both intervention conditions compared to attention-control. Mediation analyses demonstrated significant indirect effects of the intervention on 6-month drinking through changes in perceived norms at 3 months. Moreover, evidence emerged for changes in drinking at 3 months as a mediator of the association between PSCF and 6-month perceived norms. CONCLUSIONS The present research suggests PNF may not require explicit consideration of ones perceived norms to be effective and that direct social comparison provides an alternative theoretical mechanism for PNF efficacy.

The price of distrust: trust, anxious attachment, jealousy, and partner abuse

Trust is essential to the development of healthy, secure, and satisfying relationships (Simpson, 2007a). Attachment styles provide a theoretical framework for understanding how individuals respond to partner behaviors that either confirm or violate trust (Hazan & Shaver, 1994). The current research aimed to identify how trust and attachment anxiety might interact to predict different types of jealousy and physical and psychological abuse. We expected that when experiencing lower levels of trust, anxiously attached individuals would report higher levels of both cognitive and behavioral jealousy as well as partner abuse perpetration. Participants in committed romantic relationships (N = 261) completed measures of trust, attachment anxiety and avoidance, jealousy, and physical and psychological partner abuse in a cross-sectional study. Moderation results largely supported the hypotheses: Attachment anxiety moderated the association between trust and jealousy, such that anxious individuals experienced much higher levels of cognitive and behavioral jealousy when reporting lower levels of trust. Moreover, attachment anxiety moderated the association between trust and nonphysical violence. These results suggest that upon experiencing distrust in one’s partner, anxiously attached individuals are more likely to become jealous, snoop through a partner’s belongings, and become psychologically abusive. The present research illustrates that particularly for anxiously attached individuals, distrust has cascading effects on relationship cognitions and behavior, and this should be a key area of discussion during therapy.

Spring Break Versus Spring Broken: Predictive Utility of Spring Break Alcohol Intentions and Willingness at Varying Levels of Extremity

Within the domain of risk-related behavior, many times the decision to engage is not a product of premeditation or intention. The prototype willingness model was created to capture and explain the unintended element of risk behavior. The present study aimed to evaluate the importance of willingness versus intention, two important constructs within the prototype willingness model, in relation to spring break drinking behavior when assessed at both high and low extremities. College undergraduates (N = 275) completed questionnaires prior to spring break regarding their anticipated spring break activities. Willingness and intention were assessed for different levels of risk. Specifically, participants indicated the extent to which they intended to (a) get drunk and (b) drink enough to black out or pass out; and the extent to which they were willing to (a) get drunk and (b) drink enough to black out or pass out. When classes resumed following spring break, the students indicated the extent to which they actually (a) got drunk and (b) drank enough to black out or pass out. Results demonstrated that when the health-related risk was lower (i.e., getting drunk), intention was a stronger predictor of behavior than was willingness. However, as the level of risk increased (i.e., getting drunk enough to black out or pass out), willingness more strongly predicted behavior. The present study suggests that willingness and intentions differentially predict spring break alcohol-related behavior depending on the extremity of behavior in question. Implications regarding alcohol interventions are discussed.

Remote versus in-lab computer-delivered personalized normative feedback interventions for college student drinking.

OBJECTIVE Computer-based interventions aimed at reducing college student drinking have shown positive effects. The authors compare differences in effects of computer-based personalized normative feedback (PNF) interventions based on delivery modality (in-person vs. remotely) across six previously evaluated studies with similar content. METHOD Three studies included evaluations of a computer-based PNF intervention in which baseline and intervention procedures took place inside a laboratory setting; three separate studies included evaluations of the same intervention in which participants completed the procedures remotely over the Web. Thus, we tested for differences in intervention efficacy by delivery modality. Outcomes included drinks per week, drinking-related consequences, and the putative intervention mechanism, perceived drinking norms. RESULTS Evidence from hierarchical linear models indicated that computer-based interventions are less effective at reducing drinking and related consequences when delivered remotely than when delivered in person. CONCLUSION The advantages of interventions delivered remotely are not without cost. Suggestions for why remote computer-based interventions may be less effective are discussed.