Skip to main content
OpenTrials
Recruiting

NCT Number: NCT07463118

Game-Based Intervention to Reduce Alcohol Use Among Youth

This is a randomized controlled trial to learn if the Singularities, a game-based intervention, works to reduce alcohol-related harms among youth. It will also learn if Singularities reduces alcohol use behaviors and improves alcohol protective behavioral strategies, adaptive coping skills, and healthy social media use. The main questions it aims to answer are:

* Does Singularities reduce the frequency of experiencing alcohol-related harms and alcohol use behaviors? * Does Singularities improve alcohol protective behavioral strategies, adaptive coping skills, and healthy social media use?

Researchers will compare Singularities to an attention control program, Food4Thought, a game-based intervention about nutrition, physical activity, and teen well-being, to see if Singularities works to reduce alcohol-related harms.

Participants will:

* Partake in either Singularities or Food4Thought, both of which will be completed over the course of one month * Take 4 online surveys over the course of one year * Complete an optional online interview after the surveys

Recruiting

Interested in participating?

Request Info

Key information

Conditions

Alcohol Problem Alcohol-Related Disorders Chemically-Induced Disorders Mental Disorders Substance-Related Disorders

Age range

14 year–18 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

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

Inclusion criteria

  • Able to comfortably participate in English
  • Live in the U.S.
  • 14-18 years old
  • Have an internet-accessible computer, smart phone, or tablet
  • Provide an email address
  • Have drank alcohol in their lifetime or intend to in the next year

Exclusion criteria

  • None

Treatment and study plan

Food4Thought

Behavioral

Food4Thought is an attention control condition in which participants receive similar amounts of research team contact and program contact as the intervention. Participants will play the game Pick Your Plate! A Global Guide to Nutrition, developed by the Smithsonian Science Education Center. Participants are instructed to build healthy meals using cuisine from around the world while ensuring they stick to a budget and meet all their nutritional needs. Food4Thought will be delivered via Qualtrics.

Singularities

Behavioral

Singularities is a theory-based, community-informed, web-accessible intervention that includes a game, discussion board, and resources that incorporate 3 components for encouraging use of adaptive coping skills, alcohol protective behavioral strategies, and healthy internet and social media use.

Primary outcomes

  1. Alcohol-related harms

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months

    Participants report how many times they experienced 19 different alcohol-related harms, based on the measure from the the School Health and Alcohol Harm Reduction Project (SHAHRP). Example harms include hangover after drinking, inability to remember what happened after drinking, having sex that they later regretted, trouble with parent(s) because of drinking, physical fight because they were affected by alcohol, and drove in a vehicle after drinking. Response options for each harm range from "never" (0) to "12 times or more" (12). Scores range from 0 to 228, with higher scores indicating more alcohol-related harms.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Drinking quantity

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months

    Number of drinks consumed on a typical day of drinking assessed via Quantity-Frequency items

  2. Drinking frequency

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months

    Number of days on which one or more drinks were consumed assessed via Quantity-Frequency items.

  3. Binge drinking frequency

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months

    Number of times when 4 or 5+ drinks (asking both regardless of assigned/biological sex at birth) were consumed in a 2-hour period assessed via National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) items.

  4. Alcohol use initiation

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months

    Participants report whether or not they drank alcohol, which is assessed via the Youth Risk Behavior Survey item about lifetime alcohol use.

  5. Alcohol protective behavioral strategies

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months

    Which alcohol protective behavioral strategies are engaged in while drinking or partying, measured with the Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (PBSS). Scores range from 20 to 120, with higher scores indicating more skills used.

  6. Bystander alcohol risk reduction skills

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months

    Total number of times specific strategies were used to help others before, during, or after drinking, using the Strategies subscale of the Bystanders to Alcohol Risk Scale (BARS). Scores range from 0 to 27, with higher scores indicating more skills used.

  7. Emotional distress tolerance skills

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months

    Ability to endure negative emotional states, measured with the Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS). Scores range from 15 to 75, with higher scores indicating better distress tolerance.

  8. Emotion regulation and decentering practices

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months

    How often mindfulness practices are used, measured with the Applied Mindfulness Process Scale (AMPS). Scores range from 0 to 60, with higher scores indicating a better outcome.

  9. Healthy social media use

    Time frame: Baseline, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months

    Using MetroWest Adolescent Health Survey items, this self-report measure assesses adolescents' perceptions of the social, emotional, and behavioral impacts of social media use. Participants indicate their level of agreement with 11 statements on a 5-point Likert scale, with higher average scores reflecting healthier social media use.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

James E Egan, PhD, MPH

CONTACT

[email protected]

412-624-2255

Robert WS Coulter, PhD, MPH

CONTACT

[email protected]

412-624-0647

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Pittsburgh

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Registry information

Official study title

A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Game-Based Intervention to Reduce Alcohol Use Among Youth

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2028
Study completion
2028
First posted
Mar 11, 2026
Registry last updated
Jul 16, 2026

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.

Related clinical trials

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.