Likelihood of Young Adult Engagement in Protective Behavioral Strategies for Alcohol Use across Drinking Contexts: Implications for Adaptive Interventions

Abstract

Objective

This study examined how young adults’ likelihood to engage in protective behavioral strategies (PBS) to reduce alcohol harms varies across physical and social contexts for drinking.

Method

We conducted an online survey with 514 heavy drinking young adults (M_age = 22.4 years, 52% women, 30% Hispanic/Latin(x), 40% non-White). Participants were asked to rate their likelihood to engage in 26 PBS generally, and specifically in six physical contexts (e.g., bar/club), and six social contexts (e.g., in a large group). We conducted regression analyses to examine the overall effect of context on the likelihood to engage in each PBS and post-hoc Tukey tests to assess pairwise comparisons of the differences in likelihood to engage in each PBS across response options for physical and social context. Analyses were conducted using the full sample, and for men and women separately.

Results

There were significant differences in six strategies across physical contexts; likelihood to engage in PBS varied across public and private spaces for different strategies. We also found significant differences in five strategies across social contexts; participants were more likely to engage in PBS among larger numbers of people and those who are intoxicated. There were numerous differences in pairwise comparisons of PBS engagement across physical and social contexts for women, while men demonstrated only two differences in PBS across physical context.

Conclusions

Results suggest that alcohol interventions for young adults that include PBS should consider tailoring strategies to the individual and the specific context of the drinking event.

Keywords:

• Young adult alcohol misuse
• protective behavioral strategies
• social and physical drinking context

Declaration of interest

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Additional information

Funding

This work is supported by the National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (K01AA028540, PI: Cox). Points of view in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the National Institutes of Health. The funding sources had no role in the analysis or interpretation of the data, the preparation of this manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.