Influence of motivational interviewing on explicit and implicit alcohol-related cognition and alcohol use in at-risk adolescents

Abstract

Both implicit and explicit cognitions play an important role in the development of addictive behavior. This study investigated the influence of a single-session motivational interview (MI) on implicit and explicit alcohol-related cognition and whether this intervention was successful in consequently decreasing alcohol use in at-risk adolescents. Implicit and explicit alcohol-related cognitions were assessed at pretest and one month posttest in 125 Dutch at-risk adolescents ranging in age from 15 to 23 (51 males) with adapted versions of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) and an expectancy questionnaire. Motivation to change, alcohol use and alcohol-related problems were measured with self-report questionnaires, at pretest, at posttest after one month, and at the six-month follow-up. Although the quality of the intervention was rated positively, the results did not yield support for any differential effects of the intervention on drinking behavior or readiness to change at posttest and six-month follow-up. There were indications of changes in implicit and explicit alcohol-related cognitions between pretest and posttest. Our findings raise questions regarding the use of MI in this particular at-risk adolescent population and the mechanisms through which MI is effective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Figure 1

Latent growth model for the log alcohol use index. Condition = control or experimental group; Intercept = baseline log alcohol use index; Slope = change log alcohol use index; Log Drink Pretest = log alcohol use index score at pretest; Log Drink Posttest = log alcohol use index score at posttest; Log Drink FU = log alcohol use index score at six month follow up. The labels mark path coefficients that were constrained across assessment points. By fixing all paths from the intercept factor to each measurement point to 1 and all paths from the slope factor to each measurement point to 0, 4, 26 (representing the number of weeks between time points), this model represents linear growth. The path from condition to intercept tests whether the experimental group differs from the control group in baseline functioning. This is the main effect of condition. The path from condition to slope tests whether individual growth within the experimental group differs from individual growth in the control group. This is the interaction between time and condition we are primarily interested in evaluating. Both the variance U1 and the covariance between U0 and U1 were fixed at 0 to make the model admissible (these values were estimated negative if not fixed). The variances of the latent variables d1–d3 were estimated equal to each other; the model where each variance was estimated individually did not lead to a significant increase in model fit compared with this model.