Preventing risky drinking in first-year college women: further validation of a female-specific motivational-enhancement group intervention.

Objective: Female college students have increased their alcohol consumption rates. The current study sought to replicate the effectiveness of a female-specific motivational-enhancement group intervention and extended previous work by adding a 6-month follow-up. The intervention included several motivational-enhancement components delivered in a group setting and included a group discussion of female-specific reasons for drinking.

A randomized motivational enhancement prevention group reduces drinking and alcohol consequences in first-year college women.

Alcohol consumption among college students has become an increasing problem that requires attention from college administrators, staff, and researchers. Despite the physiological differences between men and women, college women are drinking at increasingly risky rates, placing them at increased risk for negative consequences. The current study tested a group motivational enhancement approach to the prevention of heavy drinking among 1st-year college women.

Female College Drinking and the Social Learning Theory: An Examination of the Developmental Transition Period from High School to College.

Problematic drinking among college students remains a national issue with large percentages of college students reporting heavy episodic or binge drinking (Wechsler, Dowdall, Davenport, & Castillo, 1995) and experiencing severe alcohol-related consequences ranging from poor academic performance, to sexual assault, vandalism, and even death (Hingson, Heeren, Winter, & Wechsler, 2005; Wechsler et al., 2002). According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA, 2002), the first 6 weeks on a college campus are critical to first-year student success.

Classifying risky-drinking college students: another look at the two-week drinker-type categorization.

Objective: The present study examined the effectiveness of the 2-week period currently used in the categorization of heavy episodic drinking among college students. Two-week drinker-type labels included the following: nonbinge drinker, binge drinker, and frequent binge drinker.

Method: Three samples of college student drinkers (104 volunteers, 283 adjudicated students, and 238 freshmen male students) completed the 3-month Timeline Followback assessment of drinking.