Reactivity to alcohol assessment measures: an experimental test
Open accessAbstract
Aims Previous research has suggested that alcohol screening and assessment may affect drinking. Design This study was a randomized test of reactivity to alcohol assessment questionnaires among a group of heavy drinking college students. Setting and participants A total of 147 university students completed a screening questionnaire and were randomized to either immediate assessment or delayed assessment. The immediate assessment group completed a set of drinking questionnaires at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months, while the delayed assessment group completed questionnaires only at 12 months. Measurements Primary outcomes included overall volume of drinking, risky drinking and use of risk reduction behaviors. Findings We found a significant effect of assessment on measures of risky drinking and risk reduction behaviors, but not on overall volume of drinking. Specifically, at 12 months, participants who had previously completed drinking assessments had a lower peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) (d = −0.373), were more likely to report a low score on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT; odds ratio = 2.55) and tended to use more strategies to moderate their alcohol consumption (d = 0.352). Risk reduction behaviors that were affected tended to be those that limited alcohol consumption, rather than those that minimized consequences. Conclusions These results may have implications for the development of brief interventions.
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Improvement in outcomes as a result of assessment reactivity may be due to participants trying additional risk reduction behaviors.
“There is also some evidence that improvement in outcomes as a result of assessment reactivity may be due to participants trying additional risk reduction behaviors (Walters et al., 2009).”
From Effectiveness of Nurse-Practitioner-Delivered Brief Motivational Intervention for Young Adult Alcohol and Drug Use in Primary Care in South Africa: A Randomized Clinical Trial (2014) · cites this paper as Walters et al., 2009
The reduction in substance use in both arms may be partly explained by reactivity to the baseline assessment.
“The reduction in substance misuse in both groups may have been partly due to participant reactivity -that is, the baseline assessment itself performed as an intervention (Walters et al., 2009).”
From Screening and Brief Intervention for Substance Misuse: Does It Reduce Aggression and HIV-Related Risk Behaviours? (2015) · cites this paper as Walters et al., 2009
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- Authors
- Walters, S. T., Vader, A. M., Harris, T. R., & Jouriles, E. N.
- Affiliations
- University of Texas Health Science Center at Dallas (US)
- Southern Methodist University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Walters, Scott T.
- Venue
- Addiction
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2009-07-13
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1305-1310
- ISSN
- 0965-2140 (ISSN-L)
- 1360-0443
- PMC
- PMC2724752
- OpenAlex
- W2106050697
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 4.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Addiction (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01AA016005)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Keywords
- alcohol screening, heavy drinking, university students, hazardous drinking, risk reduction behavior, peak blood alcohol concentration, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, brief intervention
- MeSH terms
- Alcohol Drinking, Ethanol, Female, Humans, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Risk Factors, Students, Time Factors, United States, Universities, Risk Reduction Behavior, Young Adult
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