Background: The current study tested age of onset as a moderator of intervention efficacy on drinking and consequence outcomes among a high-risk population of college students (i.e., former high school athletes).
Methods: Students were randomized to one of four conditions: assessment only control, combined parent-based intervention (PBI) and brief motivational intervention (BMI), PBI alone, and BMI alone. Participants (n = 1,275) completed web-administered measures at baseline (summer before starting college) and 10-month follow-up.
Results: Overall, the combined intervention demonstrated the strongest and most consistent reductions across all outcomes, particularly with the youngest initiators. Participants who initiated drinking at the youngest ages had significantly lower peak drinking, typical weekly drinking, and reported consequences at follow-up when they received the combined intervention when compared to the control group. The BMI and PBI groups, when examined independently, demonstrated significant effects across outcomes but were inconsistent across the different age groups.
Conclusion: Results suggest the combination of a PBI and a peer-delivered BMI is an appropriate and efficacious way to reduce drinking and related consequences among individuals who initiated drinking earlier in adolescence and are at an increased risk of experiencing alcohol problems.
This paper assesses the methodology employed in longitudinal studies of advertising and youth drinking and smoking behaviors. These studies often are given a causal interpretation in the psychology and public health literatures. Four issues are examined from the perspective of econometrics. First, specification and validation of empirical models. Second, empirical issues associated with measures of advertising receptivity and exposure. Third, potential endogeneity of receptivity and exposure variables. Fourth, sample selection bias in baseline and follow-up surveys. Longitudinal studies reviewed include 20 studies of youth drinking and 26 studies of youth smoking. Substantial shortcomings are found in the studies, which preclude a causal interpretation.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prospective relationship between alcohol consumption and incident mobility limitation. DESIGN: Cohort study. SETTING: The Health Aging and Body Composition study, conducted in Memphis, Tennessee, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. PARTICIPANTS: Three thousand sixty-one adults aged 70 to 79 without mobility disability at baseline. MEASUREMENTS: Incidence of mobility limitation, defined as self-report at two consecutive semiannual interviews of any difficulty walking one-quarter of a mile or climbing stairs, and incidence of mobility disability, defined as severe difficulty or inability to perform these tasks at two consecutive reports. Alcohol intake, lifestyle-related variables, diseases, and health status indicators were assessed at baseline. RESULTS: During a follow-up time of 6.5 years, participants consuming moderate levels of alcohol had the lowest incidence of mobility limitation (total: 6.4 per 100 person-years (person-years); men: 6.4 per 100 person-years; women: 7.3 per 100 person-years) and mobility disability (total: 2.7 per 100 person-years; men: 2.5 per 100 person-years; women: 2.9 per 100 person-years). Adjusting for demographic characteristics, moderate alcohol intake was associated with lower risk of mobility limitation (hazard ratio (HR)=0.70, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.55-0.89) and mobility disability (HR=0.66, 95% CI=0.45-0.95) than never or occasional consumption. Additional adjustment for lifestyle-related variables substantially reduced the strength of the associations (HR=0.85, 95% CI=0.66-1.08 and HR=0.81, 95% CI=0.56-1.18, respectively). Adjustment for diseases and health status indicators did not affect the strength of the associations, suggesting that lifestyle is most important in confounding this relationship. CONCLUSION: Lifestyle-related characteristics mainly accounted for the association between moderate alcohol intake and lower risk of functional decline over time. These findings do not support a direct causal effect of alcohol intake on physical function.
Context:Low overnight urinary melatonin metabolite concentrations have been associated with increased risk for breast cancer among postmenopausal women. The Postmenopausal Women's Alcohol Study was a controlled feeding study to test the effects of low to moderate alcohol intake on potential risk factors for breast cancer including serum and urinary levels of hormones and other biomarkers. Previously, we observed significant increases in concentrations of serum estrone sulfate and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate in participants after consumption of 15 or 30 g (one or two drinks) of alcohol per day.Objective:In the present analysis, we evaluated the relationship of alcohol consumption with 24-h urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (6-SMT) concentration (micrograms per 24 h).Design and Participants:Healthy postmenopausal women (n = 51) consumed a controlled diet plus each of three treatments (a nonalcoholic placebo beverage or 15 or 30 g alcohol/d) during three 8-wk periods in random order under conditions of weight maintenance.Measures:6-SMT was measured in 24-h urine samples that were collected at entry into the study (baseline) and at the midpoint (4 wk) and end (8 wk) of each of the three diet periods.Results:Concentration of 6-SMT was not significantly modified by the alcohol treatment after adjustment for body mass index, hours of sleep, daylight hours, and baseline level of 6-SMT.Conclusions:These results suggest that low to moderate daily alcohol consumption does not significantly affect 24-h urinary levels of melatonin among healthy postmenopausal women.