Browsing by Author "Zheng, Cheng"
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Item A Randomized Controlled Trial of Event Specific Prevention Strategies for Reducing Problematic Drinking Associated with 21st Birthday Celebrations(Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2012) Neighbors, Clayton; Lee, Christine M.; Atkins, David C.; Lewis, Melissa A.; Kaysen, Debra; Mittmann, Angela; Fossos, Nicole; Geisner, Irene M.; Zheng, Cheng; Larimer, Mary E.Objective: While research has documented heavy drinking practices and associated negative consequences of college students turning 21, few studies have examined prevention efforts aimed to reduce high-risk drinking during 21st birthday celebrations. The present study evaluated the comparative efficacy of a general prevention effort (i.e., BASICS) and event specific prevention in reducing 21st birthday drinking and related negative consequences. Furthermore, this study evaluated inclusion of peers in interventions and mode of intervention delivery (i.e., in-person vs. web). Method: Participants included 599 college students (46% male) who intended to consume at least five/four drinks (men/women respectively) on their 21st birthday. After completing a screening/baseline assessment approximately one week before turning 21, participants were randomly assigned to one of six conditions: 21st birthday in-person BASICS, 21st birthday web BASICS, 21st birthday in-person BASICS plus friend intervention, 21st birthday web BASICS plus friend intervention, BASICS, or an attention control. A follow-up assessment was completed approximately one week after students’ birthdays. Results: Results indicated a significant intervention effect for BASICS in reducing blood alcohol content reached and number of negative consequences experienced. All three in-person interventions reduced negative consequences experienced. Results for the web-based interventions varied by drinking outcome and whether or not a friend was included. Conclusions: Overall, results provide support for both general intervention and ESP approaches across modalities for reducing extreme drinking and negative consequences associated with turning 21. These results suggest there are several promising options for campuses seeking to reduce both use and consequences associated with 21st birthday celebrations.Item A tutorial on count regression and zero-altered count models for longitudinal substance use data(Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2013-03) Atkins, David C.; Baldwin, Scott A.; Zheng, Cheng; Gallop, Roget J.; Neighbors, ClaytonCritical research questions in the study of addictive behaviors concern how these behaviors change over time: either as the result of intervention or in naturalistic settings. The combination of count outcomes that are often strongly skewed with many zeroes (e.g., days using, number of total drinks, number of drinking consequences) with repeated assessments (e.g., longitudinal follow-up after intervention or daily diary data) present challenges for data analyses. The current article provides a tutorial on methods for analyzing longitudinal substance use data, focusing on Poisson, zero-inflated, and hurdle mixed models, which are types of hierarchical or multilevel models. Two example datasets are used throughout, focusing on drinking-related consequences following an intervention and daily drinking over the past 30 days, respectively. Both datasets as well as R, SAS, Mplus, Stata, and SPSS code showing how to fit the models are available on a supplemental website.Item Indicated prevention for college student marijuana use: A Randomized controlled trial(Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2013-08) Lee, Christine M.; Kilmer, Jason R.; Neighbors, Clayton; Atkins, David C.; Zheng, Cheng; Walker, Denise D.; Larimer, Mary E.Objective: Marijuana is the most frequently reported illicit substance used on college campuses. Despite the prevalence, few published intervention studies have focused specifically on addressing high-risk marijuana use on college campuses. The present study evaluated the efficacy of an in-person brief motivational enhancement intervention for reducing marijuana use and related consequences among frequently using college students. Method: Participants included 212 college students from two campuses who reported frequent marijuana use (i.e., using marijuana at least 5 times in the past month). Participants completed web-based screening and baseline assessments and upon completion of the baseline survey were randomized to either receive an in-person brief intervention or an assessment control group. Follow-up assessments were completed approximately three and six months post-baseline. Marijuana use was measured by number of days used in the last 30 days, typical number of joints used in a typical week in the last 60 days, and marijuana-related consequences. Results: Results indicated significant intervention effects on number of joints smoked in a typical week and a trend toward fewer marijuana-related consequences compared to the control group at three-month follow-up. Conclusion: This study provides preliminary data on short-term effects of a focused marijuana intervention for college students at reducing marijuana use during the academic quarter.Item Randomized controlled trial of a spring break intervention to reduce high-risk drinking(Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2014-04) Lee, Christine M.; Neighbors, Clayton; Lewis, Melissa A.; Kaysen, Debra; Mittmann, Angela; Geisner, Irene M.; Atkins, David C.; Zheng, Cheng; Garberson, Lisa A.; Kilmer, Jason R.; Larimer, Mary E.Objective: While recent studies have documented high-risk drinking occurring during Spring Break (SB), particularly on SB trips with friends, published intervention studies are few. The present study evaluated the efficacy of Event Specific Prevention (ESP) strategies for reducing SB drinking among college students, compared to general prevention strategies and an assessment-only control group, as well as evaluated inclusion of peers in interventions and mode of intervention delivery (in-person vs. web). Method: Participants included 783 undergraduates (56.1% women, average age 20.5) intending to go on a SB trip with friends as well as to drink heavily on at least one day of SB. Participants completed assessments prior to SB and were randomized to one of five intervention conditions: SB in-person BASICS, SB web BASICS, SB in-person BASICS with friend, SB web BASICS with friend, general BASICS, or an attention control condition. Follow-up assessment was completed one week after SB. Results: While the SB web BASICS (with and without friends) and general BASICS interventions were not effective at reducing SB drinking, results indicated significant intervention effects for SB in-person BASICS in reducing SB drinking, particularly on trip days. Follow-up analyses indicated change in descriptive norms mediated treatment effect and reductions in drinking, while SB drinking intentions and positive expectancies did not. Conclusions: Overall, results suggest an in-person SB-specific intervention is effective at reducing SB drinking, especially during trips. In contrast, interventions that contain non-SB related content, are web-based, or seek to involve friends may be less effective at reducing SB drinking.Item RCT of web-based personalized normative feedback for college drinking prevention: Are typical student norms good enough?(Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2013-12) LaBrie, Joseph W.; Lewis, Melissa A.; Atkins, David C.; Neighbors, Clayton; Zheng, Cheng; Kenney, Shannon R.; Napper, Lucy E.; Walter, Theresa; Kilmer, Jason R.; Hummer, Justin F.; Grossbard, Joel; Ghaidarov, Tehniat M.; Desai, Sruti; Lee, Christine M.; Larimer, Mary E.Objectives: Personalized normative feedback (PNF) interventions are generally effective at correcting normative misperceptions and reducing risky alcohol consumption among college students. However, research has yet to establish what level of reference group specificity is most efficacious in delivering PNF. This study compared the efficacy of a web-based PNF intervention employing eight increasingly-specific reference groups against a Web-BASICS intervention and a repeated-assessment control in reducing risky drinking and associated consequences. Method: Participants were 1663 heavy drinking Caucasian and Asian undergraduates at two universities. The referent for web-based PNF was either the typical same-campus student, or a same-campus student at one (either gender, race, or Greek-affiliation), or a combination of two (e.g., gender and race), or all three levels of specificity (i.e., gender, race, and Greek-affiliation). Hypotheses were tested using quasi-Poisson generalized linear models fit by generalized estimating equations. Results: The PNF intervention participants showed modest reductions in all four outcomes (average total drinks, peak drinking, drinking days, and drinking consequences) compared to control participants. No significant differences in drinking outcomes were found between the PNF group as a whole and the Web-BASICS group. Among the eight PNF conditions, participants receiving typical student PNF demonstrated greater reductions in all four outcomes compared to those receiving PNF for more specific reference groups. Perceived drinking norms and discrepancies between individual behavior and actual norms mediated the efficacy of the intervention. Conclusions: Findings suggest a web-based PNF intervention using the typical student referent offers a parsimonious approach to reducing problematic alcohol use outcomes among college students.