Predictors of motivation to change in mandated college students following a referral incident

Abstract

The purpose of present study was to understand factors that are related to a desire or motivation to change (MTC) alcohol use in a sample of college students mandated to receive an alcohol intervention. We examined characteristics of and reactions to the referral event, typical alcohol use involvement, and alcohol beliefs about the perceived importance of drinking in college assessed by the College Life Alcohol Salience Scale (CLASS; Osberg et al., 2010) as predictors of MTC following referral to an alcohol intervention. College students (N = 932) who presented for a mandatory alcohol intervention following a referral event (e.g., citation for underage drinking, medical attention for an alcohol-related incident, or driving under the influence) completed an assessment prior to receiving an alcohol intervention. Higher perceived aversiveness of the referral event and higher personal responsibility one felt for the occurrence of the event were positively related to higher MTC. Although alcohol beliefs about the role of drinking in college were not significantly related to either event aversiveness or responsibility, it was negatively related to MTC even after controlling for alcohol use involvement variables. Alcohol beliefs about the role of drinking in college represent an important construct that is related to increased alcohol use and alcohol-related problems and decreased MTC in a sample of college students. Interventions aimed at reducing alcohol beliefs about the role of drinking in college may be an effective strategy to reduce alcohol use and alcohol-related problems by college students.

Figure 1

Path model of associations among alcohol beliefs about the role of drinking in college as measured by the College Life Alcohol Salience Scale (CLASS), alcohol use involvement variables (typical drinking and alcohol problems), event-specific variables (event drinking, event attribution, event aversiveness), and motivation to change. Only significant effects (p < .05) are shown. Gender was controlled for by entering it as an exogenous predictor of all study variables; these effects are not shown for clarity.