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OpenTrials
Completed

NCT Number: NCT04026633

Attitudes & College Experiences

High volume drinking by young adults has proven resistant to long term change, so new approaches are needed. Given strong associations between alcohol-related attitudes and drinking behavior, the investigators adapt a theory-based attitude change strategy for use in alcohol prevention. This research tests the impact of a brief counter attitudinal advocacy activity on subsequent drinking and negative consequences.

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Key information

Conditions

Alcohol Abuse Alcohol-Related Disorders Alcoholism Chemically-Induced Disorders Mental Disorders Substance-Related Disorders

Age range

18 year–26 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Brooklyn College

Brooklyn, New York, 11210, United States

About this study

The persistence of risky drinking among young adults in college calls for continued efforts to prevent harms related to alcohol. Current prevention interventions have achieved some success, but rely on a single mechanism of change: correcting exaggerated drinking norms. The investigators propose to test a novel prevention strategy targeting another mechanism of change: creating attitude-behavior dissonance. To date, changing alcohol-related attitudes and the resulting attitude-behavior discrepancy has been underutilized as a behavior change strategy for alcohol abuse prevention. Informed by an extensive literature showing strong and consistent associations between alcohol attitudes and drinking behavior, the investigators adapted a brief counter-attitudinal advocacy (CAA) manipulation to the alcohol prevention context.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

  • 18-24 years of age
  • Enrolled in the university's undergraduate four-year degree program
  • Past month heavy episodic drinking (for men, >5 drinks in one day, for women >4 drinks in one day)
  • At least two self-reported negative consequence from drinking in the past month

Exclusion criteria

  • Status as a graduating senior

Treatment and study plan

CAA

Behavioral

Participants will write about the use of PBS and alcohol use.

Control

Behavioral

Participants will write about eating and exercise.

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in Alcohol Consumption from Baseline to 1-Month

    Time frame: 1 month after baseline

    Average of reports from past 30 days on the number of standard drinks consumed by participant over the past 30 days.

  2. Change in Alcohol-related consequences from Baseline to 1- and 3-Months

    Time frame: 1 month and 3 months after baseline

    The Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (BYAACQ) (Kahler et al., 2005) is a 24-item self-administered checklist of problems related to drinking; responses are dichotomous (yes/no) and refer to the past month which was collected at baseline and 5-months. The BYAACQ demonstrates strong psychometric properties and is free of gender bias (Kahler et al., 2005).

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Using Counter Attitudinal Advocacy to Change Drinking Behavior & Related Problems

Acronym: ACE

Important dates

Study start
2019
Primary completion
2022
Study completion
2022
First posted
Jul 19, 2019
Registry last updated
Aug 5, 2022

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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