Alcohol use among college students: Shifting stages of change

An Alcohol Skills Training Program (ASTP) was developed for first year college students linking motivational enhancement activities and training in alcohol refusal skills to specific high risk drinking contexts at Clemson University. ASTP programs with and without a context component were compared to a control condition in an intervention trial with incoming first year students at Clemson University in the fall of 2006. Using a non-equivalent control group design, intervention and control conditions were randomly assigned by floor to first year students residing in two matched residence halls containing nine residential floors each. Pre- intervention, Post-intervention, and Follow-up surveys were compared for the three intervention conditions on readiness to change using the Brief Readiness to Change Questionnaire (BRCQ). Controlling for baseline BRCQ scores, differences in response rates and loss to follow-up, students in the ASTP With Context group were significantly more likely to be in a higher stage of change at follow-up than students in the ASTP Without Context or control condition. The ASTP With Context group was also significantly less likely to regress to a lower stage than the other groups (Adjusted Odds Ratio = 2.58; 95% CI = {1.09 – 6.12}; p = .032). Providing first year college students with alcohol consumption strategies and alcohol refusal skills tailored for specific social, environmental and temporal heavy drinking contexts increases readiness to control or change drinking behavior.