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ABSTRACT
Background: College-related alcohol beliefs, or beliefs that drinking alcohol is central to the college experience, have been shown to robustly predict alcohol-related outcomes among college students. Given the strength of these associations, it is imperative to understand more proximal factors (i.e., closer in a causal chain leading to alcohol-related outcomes) that can explain these associations. Objectives: The current research examined alcohol protective behavioral strategies (PBS) as a potential mediator of the association between college-related alcohol beliefs and alcohol outcomes among college student drinkers. Method: Participants were undergraduate students from a large southeastern university (Sample 1; n = 561) and a large southwestern university (Sample 2; n = 563) in the United States that consumed alcohol at least once in the previous month. Results: Path analysis was conducted examining the concurrent associations between college-related alcohol beliefs, PBS use (both as a single facet and multidimensionally), alcohol consumption, and alcohol-related consequences (i.e., double mediation). In both samples, there was a significant double-mediated association that suggested that higher college-related alcohol beliefs is associated with lower PBS use (single facet), which is associated with higher alcohol consumption and alcohol-related consequences. Multidimensionally, only one double-mediation effect (in Sample 2 only) was significant (i.e., college-related alcohol beliefs → manner of drinking PBS → alcohol consumption → alcohol-related consequences). Conclusions/Importance: These results suggest that targeting these college-related alcohol beliefs as well as PBS use are promising targets for college alcohol interventions. Limitations and future directions are discussed.
Acknowledgments
Adrian J. Bravo drafted the first draft of the manuscript, wrote the method and results sections, and conducted the analyses. Mark A. Prince wrote the introduction. Matthew R. Pearson wrote the discussion. All authors conducted edits and approved of the final manuscript.
Declaration of interest
All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Funding
Adrian J. Bravo is supported by a training grant (T32-AA018108) from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Matthew R. Pearson is supported by a career development grant from NIAAA (K01-AA023233). NIAAA had no role in the study design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the paper for publication.