“Drunkorexia”: Understanding eating and physical activity behaviors of weight conscious drinkers in a sample of college students

Objective: Behaviors of weight conscious drinkers (BWCD) include disordered eating, excessive physical activity (PA), and heavy episodic drinking. Considering that approximately 25% of the college students report BWCD, it is important to investigate what characteristics increase the likelihood of college students engaged in BWCD for both moderate and vigorous PAs. Participants: A total of 510 college students were recruited from a large, public southeastern university. Methods: Participants completed a cross-sectional survey during the spring 2015 semester. Results: Of 510 respondents, 11.2% reported moderate PA-based BWCD and 14.7% reported vigorous PA-based BWCD. Weight loss intention, BMI and Greek affiliation predicted both moderate and vigorous BWCD. Conclusions: Study findings suggest that Greek-affiliated students and students with weight loss intentions might be at an increased risk for BWCD. Along with promoting lower levels of alcohol consumption, college practitioners should consider discussing issues of weight and body image with college students as they relate to maladaptive drinking behavior.     

A Note on the Stochastic Approach to Index Numbers

In a recent article, Clements and Izan (1987) used the stochastic approach to index-number theory to estimate the rate of inflation and its standard error. Selvanathan (1988) extended their approach to the prices of groups of goods and to prices within groups. In this note, I apply the within-group results to the U.K. alcohol data. Simulation results show that the estimates are unbiased, but the asymptotic standard errors understate the true sampling variability of the estimates. To overcome this problem, I applied the bootstrap technique to obtain alternate standard errors.     

Alcohol Problems,Marriage, and Treatment: Developing a Theoretical Timeline

SUMMARY

While research findings over the past twenty years have consistently supported the efficacy of couples work with people experiencing alcohol related problems, in the field of practice in Ireland there is little evidence of the development of interventions based on a couples/marital perspective. This paper examines the place of marital work in the alcohol field through a review of the literature from 1950s to the present in order to discover the limitations in theory and research that might explain the reluctance of practitioners to adopt this method of intervention.     

Bayes Estimates for the Price and Income Elasticities of Alcoholic Beverages in Finland From 1955 to 1980

The Lindley–Smith theory of Bayes estimates for multiple regression equations with exchangeability between the regression coefficients of the individual equations is extended to the case in which a first-order autoregressive process generates the regression coefficients. The ensuing formulas are applied to study monthly Finnish consumption of alcohol. The point of this application is that exchangeability between the regression coefficients is less than we can assess beforehand when there is a natural ordering, in this case according to chronological time, of the equations. Still, the general task of the Lindley–Smith estimators, to consider the combined data when estimating individual regression coefficients, is a relevant one.     

Examining Interpersonal Relationship Predictors Of Delinquency Across Ethnic and Racial Samples

This study examined the associations between self-reported delinquency and elements of control theory. The subjects used for this study were adolescent males participating in an intervention program for youth at risk for alcohol and drug use. This study included quantitative measures of adolescents’ self-reports and referring agencies’ reports, which were administered during intake interviews. A regression analysis was used to determine whether elements of control theory predict self-reported delinquency. The measure was also utilized to explore whether the predictors are consistent across ethnic and racial sub-groups. The results support other empirical studies that suggest there is a statistically positive relationship between interpersonal relationships and delinquency.     

A meta-analysis of effectiveness of E-interventions to reduce alcohol consumption in college and university students.

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and moderators of E-Interventions versus assessment only (AO) controls in the reduction of alcoholic drinks per week (DPW) in university students.

Study design and methods: Cochrane library, CINAEL, ERIC, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Web of Science were searched up to June 2017. Studies were included if they were: an RCT, assessed the effectiveness of E-Interventions at reducing DPW, and employed university/college students. 23 studies (N = 7,614) were included and quality was assessed using the JADAD scale.

Results: Weighted mean effect sizes were calculated using random-effects models. These showed a small, significant effect of E-Interventions at reducing the number of alcoholic DPW. Moderator analysis found a significant advantage for web-based personalised feedback interventions compared to other E-Interventions.

Conclusions: E-Interventions show a small, significant effect at reducing mean alcoholic DPW. Personalised feedback E-Interventions showed the strongest effect.     

What “likes” have got to do with it: Exposure to peers' alcohol-related posts and perceptions of injunctive drinking norms

Objective: Examine 1) whether observed social reinforcements (i.e., “likes”) received by peers' alcohol-related social media posts are related to first-year college students' perceptions of peer approval for risky drinking behaviors; and 2) whether associations are moderated by students' alcohol use status. Participants: First-year university students (N = 296) completed an online survey in September, 2014. Method: Participants reported their own alcohol use, friends' alcohol use, perceptions of the typical student's approval for risky drinking, and ranked 10 types of social media posts in terms of the relative numbers of “likes” received when posted by peers. Results: Observed social reinforcement (i.e., “likes”) for peers' alcohol-related posts predicted perceptions of peer approval for risky drinking behaviors among non-drinking students, but not drinking students. Conclusions: For first-year college students who have not yet initiated drinking, observing peers' alcohol-related posts to receive abundant “likes” may increase perceptions of peer approval for risky drinking.     

Comparative analysis of emergency department patients lost to follow-up after computerized alcohol screening and brief intervention

Many studies have evaluated the effectiveness of alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) but most of them have reported substantial loss to follow-up without investigating the characteristics of those lost to follow-up. We examined the association between Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) scores, readiness-to-change scores and the demographic factors with lost to follow-up. This retrospective study compared demographic characteristics, AUDIT and readiness-to-change scores for 190 lost to follow-up patients to 221 completed follow-up patients who participated in SBI in the Emergency Department between June 2006 and May 2007. Comparing the association between baseline characteristics and completed follow-up rate, those 30–39, 40–49 and 50 years and older had 0.46 (95% CI 0.32–0.91), 0.49 (95% CI 0.29–0.90) and 0.58 (95%CI 0.22–0.79) lower odds of completing follow-up, respectively, in comparison to those 18–29 years of age. The loss to follow-up group reported more negative consequences of alcohol and binge drinking than the completed follow-up group (p = 0.04). Using logistic regression, patients who experienced more negative effects of alcohol had 0.87 lower odds of completing follow-up (95% CI 0.79–0.96). The patients lost to follow-up in this study were significantly different in age and alcohol drinking habits compared to those completed follow-ups. It is important to consider differential loss to follow-up in assessing the validity and generalizability of intervention studies. This could help in tailoring methods of approaching patients based on target population characteristics.     

The role of age and setting in adolescents’ first drinking experience for predicting college problem drinking

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability of longitudinally reporting age at first drink (AFD), and to test AFD and setting of first drink (SFD) as predictors of collegiate problem drinking. Participants: 338 first-year college students were interviewed multiple times during their first academic year, from May 2011 through August 2012. Methods: AFD, SFD, and problem drinking were measured using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) during the first year of college. Bivariate analysis and parsimonious multivariate linear regression model were conducted. Results: 62% of respondents were inconsistent in reporting AFD over time. Social SFD was the strongest independent predictor for higher AUDIT scores (b = 4.74, 95% confidence interval; 1.91, 7.57; p = .002). Conclusions: Findings suggest caution should be used in relying upon using AFD as a sole predictor of problem drinking. SFD may be a complementary measure to identify students at high risk of collegiate problem drinking.