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Weekend Text Messages Increase Protective Behavioral Strategies and Reduce Harm Among College Drinkers

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Abstract

The current study examined whether a brief text messaging intervention compared to an assessment only/no treatment control would differentially increase protective behavioral strategies (PBS) that were associated with reducing negative alcohol-related negative consequences during football game weekends. Eligible participants (n = 161) were college students who had at least one drinking occasion in the past 30 days. Participants completed a baseline assessment prior to the experimental weekend before being randomly assigned to receive either a text-message condition that instructed students to use PBS or an assessment only/no treatment condition. Participants in the text messaging condition received a message on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of a game weekend. Follow-up assessments were completed within 3 days following the experimental weekend. After controlling for amount of use, results suggest that for game day, those in the text-messaging condition reported significantly higher utilization of PBS and significantly lower negative alcohol-related consequences as compared with the assessment only/no treatment condition. Overall, the results highlight the importance of text messaging as an alternative intervention method that minimizes harm associated with drinking during football game weekends.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 238 Burnett Hall, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0308, USA

    Steven M. Edwards, Joseph L. D. Kennedy & Dennis E. McChargue

  2. Department of Community, Family, and Addiction Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    Antover P. Tuliao

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  1. Steven M. Edwards
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  2. Antover P. Tuliao
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  3. Joseph L. D. Kennedy
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  4. Dennis E. McChargue
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Correspondence to Dennis E. McChargue.

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Edwards, S.M., Tuliao, A.P., Kennedy, J.L.D. et al. Weekend Text Messages Increase Protective Behavioral Strategies and Reduce Harm Among College Drinkers. J. technol. behav. sci. 5, 395–401 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-020-00149-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41347-020-00149-4

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