An intervention to decrease heavy episodic drinking in college students: The effect of executive function training

Objective: To develop and test a planning-ability, executive function (EF) intervention to reduce heavy episodic drinking (HED). Participants: Fifty-five heavy-drinking, first-year college students, recruited from May to October 2012. Methods: Participants were randomly allocated to an experimental...

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Main Authors: Black, N., Mullan, Barbara
Format: Journal Article
Published: 2015
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24269
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author Black, N.
Mullan, Barbara
author_facet Black, N.
Mullan, Barbara
author_sort Black, N.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Objective: To develop and test a planning-ability, executive function (EF) intervention to reduce heavy episodic drinking (HED). Participants: Fifty-five heavy-drinking, first-year college students, recruited from May to October 2012. Methods: Participants were randomly allocated to an experimental or active control group and then completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption and demographic questions. Over 1 week, the experimental group completed 4 progressively harder planning tasks, whereas the control group completed 4 easier, consistent-difficulty planning tasks. Participants then recorded their daily alcohol consumption for 2 weeks. Results: As hypothesized, both mean and maximum per-occasion alcohol consumption was significantly reduced in the experimental group compared with the control group. There were no significant differences in frequency of HED. Conclusions: These results provide initial support for the use of a planning-ability intervention in decreasing per-occasion alcohol consumption. Future researchers can examine the mechanism of effect, the long-term efficacy, and the specific EFs involved in other aspects of alcohol consumption.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-242692017-09-13T15:09:36Z An intervention to decrease heavy episodic drinking in college students: The effect of executive function training Black, N. Mullan, Barbara Objective: To develop and test a planning-ability, executive function (EF) intervention to reduce heavy episodic drinking (HED). Participants: Fifty-five heavy-drinking, first-year college students, recruited from May to October 2012. Methods: Participants were randomly allocated to an experimental or active control group and then completed the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test-Consumption and demographic questions. Over 1 week, the experimental group completed 4 progressively harder planning tasks, whereas the control group completed 4 easier, consistent-difficulty planning tasks. Participants then recorded their daily alcohol consumption for 2 weeks. Results: As hypothesized, both mean and maximum per-occasion alcohol consumption was significantly reduced in the experimental group compared with the control group. There were no significant differences in frequency of HED. Conclusions: These results provide initial support for the use of a planning-ability intervention in decreasing per-occasion alcohol consumption. Future researchers can examine the mechanism of effect, the long-term efficacy, and the specific EFs involved in other aspects of alcohol consumption. 2015 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24269 10.1080/07448481.2014.990969 fulltext
spellingShingle Black, N.
Mullan, Barbara
An intervention to decrease heavy episodic drinking in college students: The effect of executive function training
title An intervention to decrease heavy episodic drinking in college students: The effect of executive function training
title_full An intervention to decrease heavy episodic drinking in college students: The effect of executive function training
title_fullStr An intervention to decrease heavy episodic drinking in college students: The effect of executive function training
title_full_unstemmed An intervention to decrease heavy episodic drinking in college students: The effect of executive function training
title_short An intervention to decrease heavy episodic drinking in college students: The effect of executive function training
title_sort intervention to decrease heavy episodic drinking in college students: the effect of executive function training
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/24269