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College students' drinking patterns have been a cause for concern for a number of years. The present study evaluated the relative effectiveness of two brief interventions aimed at reducing alcohol consumption among heavy-drinking students. The first intervention delivered personalised feedback about students' alcohol use and other alcohol-related information. The other one delivered nonpersonalised feedback. It was hypothesised that the personalised feedback would be more successful than nonpersonalised feedback in motivating heavy-drinking students to reduce their alcohol consumption. The study began with a large-scale, screening survey of students' alcohol use. The survey first identified heavy-drinking students, who then completed a baseline assessment comprising questionnaire measures related to personality, motivation, reasons for drinking, high-risk drinking situations, and alcohol-related problems. Following the baseline assessment, the heavy-drinking students (n= 111) were randomly assigned to either one of three groups; personalised feedback, nonpersonalised feedback, or a non-intervention control group. Students (n= 110) in all three groups were followed-up 12 weeks after the interventions had been delivered. The results showed that personalised alcohol-related feedback produced the greatest increase in students' readiness to change their excessive drinking. However, there was no evidence for an effect of intervention on students' actual consumption. At baseline it was found that as students' alcohol-related problems increased there were also increases in (a) the amount of alcohol that they consumed, (b) the negative-affect situations in which they drank, and (c) their maladaptive motivational patterns. In fact, each of the latter three variables contributed uniquely to the variance in alcohol-related problems. The results were discussed from the perspective of a motivational model of alcohol use (Cox & Klinger, 1988). It was concluded that the findings of the present study have important implications for future brief interventions among students.

Alcohol expectancies have traditionally been measured with explicit self-report questionnaires, but in recent years implicit measures have also been used to explore the tenets of expectancy theory. The basic psychometric properties of reliability and validity have not been established for most implicit tasks, and the convergent validity of different implicit measures has not been explored. Despite these shortcomings, many researchers continue to treat implicit tasks as reliable and valid assessment tools. To address reliability and validity of implicit measures, 218 undergraduate women and men were recruited from the University of South Florida to examine the psychometric properties of and concordance between two previously established implicit measures, Free Associates(FA) and a Primed Recall (PR) task. The FA task was replicated, demonstrating high concordance between FA responses and explicit measures and drinking. The PR task did not show a drinker-type effect as was previously reported. Though the relationship between the tasks could not be examined, an exploration of practice and contamination effects offers insight into how performance in similar comparison studies may be affected.

Distinct alcohol self-administration behaviors are observed when comparing two F1 hybrid strains of mice: C57BL/6J x NZB/B1NJ (B6xNZB) show reduced alcohol preference (RAP) after experience with high concentrations of alcohol and abstinence periods and C57BL/6J x FVB/NJ (B6xFVB) show sustained alcohol preference (SAP), providing models of stable, high alcohol consumption and moderate drinking. The purpose of this dissertation is to characterize ethanol-related behaviors and define neurocircuits engaged by SAP and RAP. We performed a battery of behavioral tests to define behaviors that predict SAP and RAP. B6xFVB exhibited less severe ethanol-induced conditioned taste aversion and were less sensitive to ethanol-induced loss of righting reflex (LORR) than B6xNZB. Both hybrids demonstrated ethanol-induced place preference and low ethanol withdrawal severity. Hybrids differ in sensitivity to the aversive and sedative, but not rewarding, effects of ethanol. Results of elevated plus maze, mirror chamber, and locomotor tests reveal B6xFVB mice are less anxious and more active than B6xNZB mice. The validity of the SAP behavioral phenotype in B6xFVB mice was determined by testing whether chronic self-administration of ethanol produced tolerance or dependence. We measured responses from ethanol-naïve and ethanol-experienced mice in tests of ethanol-induced hypothermia, withdrawal severity, and LORR. Chronic ethanol self-administration resulted in tolerance to sedative and hypothermic effects of ethanol; however, physical dependence was not evident as measured by ethanol withdrawal severity. We tested the hypothesis that SAP and RAP behavioral differences are represented by differential production of the inducible transcription factor, FosB. FosB immunoreactivity was quantified in 16 brain structures after chronic ethanol consumption or only water. Neuronal activity (as measured by FosB levels) depended on ethanol experience, brain region, and genotype, further supporting the notion that neuronal circuitry underlies motivational aspects of ethanol consumption. For B6xNZB mice, ethanol consumption resulted in increased neuronal activity in the EW, VTA, and amygdala, known ethanol- reward-, and stress-related brain regions. In B6xFVB, ethanol consumption resulted in a larger network of correlated regional activity, whereas in B6xNZB ethanol consumption resulted in a smaller network. These studies characterized genetic models of stable, high consumption (SAP) and moderate drinking (RAP) in two hybrid mouse strains. / text

The aim of this thesis was to generate knowledge about alcohol consumption among patients in a Swedish ED, the reach and effectiveness of a computerized brief intervention delivered in the ED, and factors that are associated with reduced alcohol consumption 6 months after the ED visit. The results from the studies show that alcohol consumption was higher among patients who were injured than patients who were not injured. Injury patients had a higher weekly consumption, drank more frequently and drank higher typical quantities than non-injury patients. Patients who were categorized as acute drinkers had higher weekly alcohol consumption and were more frequently engaged in heavy episodic drinking (HED) than non-acute drinkers. Among the patients who took part in the computerized test, more than 15% stated that they were at the preparation stage or actively motivated to change their alcohol consumption. Of the patients who were categorized as acute drinkers, 34% were at the action or preparation stage. Among patients who were categorized as risky drinkers, 48% became non-risky drinkers at follow-up. The relative change in average weekly consumption among risky drinkers was 30% and the relative change in HED occasions per month was 37% from baseline to follow-up. Motivated to reduce alcohol consumption at baseline, influenced by just visiting the ED, considering the alcohol-related feedback information and impact from a health care provider are independent predictors for reduced alcohol consumption.

yes / Alcohol treatment requirements (ATRs) were introduced under section 212 of the criminal justice act (2003) and offers treatment for those whose offending behaviour has been found to be linked to either hazardous or harmful drinking patterns. This current report aims to provide information around the characteristics of individuals who have participated in the ATR. The report is based on quantitative data collected from probation records and treatment files and is part of a wider study of the ATR in Wakefield. The impact of this treatment approach, based on 'coercion' is explored and this report presents outcome data in relation to offenders' participation, retention and rehabilitation. / NHS Wakefield District

Emerging adults- youth between the ages of 18-25- experience high rates of alcohol use and drinking-related consequences, yet risky drinking in this group seems to occur in the context of adaptive developmental processes. Such risk-taking behavior is thought to result from neurobehavioral changes impacting personality, cognitive development, and social functioning beginning in early adolescence. Youth seek out stimulation that, while objectively dangerous, may provide opportunity for evolutionary pay-offs. Social environmental cues signaling such pay-offs may facilitate risky behavior. This study aimed to manipulate social context, subsequent drinking-related behavior, and related shifts in risk and reward evaluation. Participants participated in a "focus group" and taste test of placebo beer (ad libitum drinking session) alone (Solo; SF condition) or in groups that either interacted in the focus group session (Social Facilitation; SF condition) or did not (Mere Presence; MP condition). Participants in the MP and SF conditions reported greater desire to drink and poured and drank more during the taste test than those in the S condition. SF participants reported the highest levels of post-manipulation affect valence, arousal, and positive group experience. Expected differences between conditions in risk/reward evaluation were not observed. Results indicate that despite differences in affective and social experiences between the group conditions, the simple presence of others had as strong an impact on drinking behavior as the social facilitation manipulation. Results underscore the complexity of social influences on human behavior.

Thesis (MA. (Clinical Psychology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2015. / The present research investigated the relationship between peer friendships and alcohol drinking patterns, amongst second year students at the University of Limpopo (Turfloop campus). The use and abuse of alcohol amongst students in South African and globally is problematic and increases decade after decade. Students consider alcohol consumption a normal part of university life and often overlook the consequences of health and social problems associated with high levels of alcohol use. The study utilised a quantitative approach with a cross sectional survey design. A convenience sample of second year students was used. Descriptive statistics were used to present the results as they give a clear and concise picture of the data. The chi-square test was utilised to see if there were any significant differences between male and female participants in terms of the study propositions and questions. The results suggest that positive psychosocial and psychological needs are intrinsic and are more likely to occur if an individual has ongoing and positive peer friendships, particularly amongst female participants. Generally, significant results indicate that females are more likely to engage in positive peer friendships and behaviours than males. Responses from male participants suggest that they are more likely to engage in maladaptive behaviours and are more likely to be negatively influenced by their peers, in terms of alcohol consumption, than females. However, females may tend to underestimate how much they drink as they are less likely to go out to a bar and are more likely to drink in their rooms or homes with friends than males.

This paper explores trends in beverage preference in adolescents, identifies related regional differences, and examines cluster differences in key drinking measures. Data were obtained from the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD), covering 24 European countries between 1999 and 2019. Trends in the distribution of alcoholic beverages on the participants’ most recent drinking occasion were analysed by sex and country using fractional multinomial logit regression. Clusters of countries based on trends and predicted beverage proportions were compared regarding the prevalence of drinkers, mean alcohol volume and prevalence of heavy drinking. Four distinct clusters each among girls and boys emerged. Among girls, there was not one type of beverage that was preferred across clusters, but the proportion of cider/alcopops strongly increased over time in most clusters. Among boys, the proportion of beer decreased, but was dominant across time in all clusters. Only northern European countries formed a geographically defined region with the highest prevalence of heavy drinking and average alcohol volume in both genders. Adolescent beverage preferences are associated with mean alcohol volume and heavy drinking at a country-level. Future approaches to drinking cultures need to take subpopulations such as adolescents into account.

<p dir="ltr">Frontloading is an alcohol drinking pattern where intake is skewed toward the onset of access. The goal of the current study was to identify brain regions involved in frontloading using whole brain imaging. 63 C57Bl/6J (32 female and 31 male) mice underwent 8 days of binge drinking using drinking-in-the-dark (DID). Three hours into the dark cycle, mice received 20% (v/v) alcohol or water for two hours on days 1-7. Intake was measured in 1-minute bins using volumetric sippers, which facilitated analyses of drinking patterns. Mice were perfused 80 minutes into the day 8 DID session and brains were extracted and processed for iDISCO clearing and c-fos immunohistochemistry. For brain network analyses, day 8 drinking patterns were used to characterize mice as frontloaders or non-frontloaders using a change-point analysis described in our recent ACER publication (Ardinger et al., 2022). Groups were female frontloaders (n = 20), female non-frontloaders (n = 2), male frontloaders (n = 13) and male non-frontloaders (n = 8). There were no differences in total alcohol intake as a function of frontloading status. Water drinkers had an n of 10 for each sex. As only two female mice were characterized as non-frontloaders, it was not possible to construct a functional correlation network for this group. Following light sheet imaging, ClearMap2.1 was used to register brains to the Allen Brain Atlas and detect fos+ cells. Functional correlation matrices were calculated for each group from log₁₀ c-fos values. Euclidean distances were calculated from these R values and hierarchical clustering was used to determine modules (highly connected groups of brain regions) at a tree-cut height of 50%. In males, alcohol access decreased modularity (3 modules in both frontloaders and non-frontloaders) as compared to water drinkers (7 modules). In females, an opposite effect was observed. Alcohol access (9 modules) increased modularity as compared to water drinkers (5 modules). These results suggest sex differences in how alcohol consumption reorganizes the functional architecture of networks. Next, key brain regions in each network were identified. Connector hubs, which primarily facilitate communication between modules, and provincial hubs, which facilitate communication within modules, were of specific interest for their important and differing roles. In males, 4 connector hubs and 17 provincial hubs were uniquely identified in frontloaders (i.e., were brain regions that did not have this status in male non-frontloaders or water drinkers). These represented a group of hindbrain regions (e.g., locus coeruleus and the pontine gray) connected to striatal/cortical regions (e.g., cortical amygdalar area) by the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus. In females, 16 connector and 17 provincial hubs were uniquely identified which were distributed across 8 of the 9 modules in the female alcohol drinker network. Only one brain region (the nucleus raphe pontis) was a connector hub in both sexes, suggesting that frontloading in males and females may be driven by different brain regions. In conclusion, alcohol consumption led to fewer, but more densely connected, groups of brain regions in males but not females, and recruited different hub brain regions between the sexes. These results suggest target brain regions for future studies to try to manipulate frontloading behavior and more broadly contribute to the literature on alcohol’s effect on neural networks.</p>