Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2009 Aug;104(8):1305-10.
doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02632.x.

Reactivity to alcohol assessment measures: an experimental test

Scott T Walters  1 , Amanda M Vader, T Robert Harris, Ernest N Jouriles
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Reactivity to alcohol assessment measures: an experimental test

Scott T Walters et al. Addiction. 2009 Aug.

Abstract

Aims: Previous research has suggested that alcohol screening and assessment may affect drinking.

Design: This study was a randomized test of reactivity to alcohol assessment questionnaires among a group of heavy drinking college students.

Setting and participants: A total of 147 university students completed a screening questionnaire and were randomized to either immediate assessment or delayed assessment. The immediate assessment group completed a set of drinking questionnaires at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months, while the delayed assessment group completed questionnaires only at 12 months.

Measurements: Primary outcomes included overall volume of drinking, risky drinking and use of risk reduction behaviors.

Findings: We found a significant effect of assessment on measures of risky drinking and risk reduction behaviors, but not on overall volume of drinking. Specifically, at 12 months, participants who had previously completed drinking assessments had a lower peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) (d = -0.373), were more likely to report a low score on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT; odds ratio = 2.55) and tended to use more strategies to moderate their alcohol consumption (d = 0.352). Risk reduction behaviors that were affected tended to be those that limited alcohol consumption, rather than those that minimized consequences.

Conclusions: These results may have implications for the development of brief interventions.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00374153.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Project MATCH Research Group. Matching alcoholism treatments to client heterogeneity: Project MATCH three-year drinking outcomes. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 1998;22(6):1300–1311. - PubMed
    1. Ogborne AC, Annis HM. The reactive effects of follow-up assessment procedures: An experimental study. Addict Behav. 1988;13:123–129. - PubMed
    1. Clifford PR, Maisto SA. Subject reactivity effects and alcohol treatment outcome research. J Stud Alcohol. 2000 Nov;61(6):787–793. - PubMed
    1. Sobell MB, Brochu S, Sobell LC, Roy J, Stephens JA. Alcohol treatment outcome evaluation methodology: State of the art 1980–1984. Addict Behav. 1987;12:113–128. - PubMed
    1. Bien TH, Miller WR, Tonigan JS. Brief interventions for alcohol problems: A review. Addiction. 1993 Mar;88(3):315–335. - PubMed

Publication types

Associated data