Alcohol use by young people is extremely dangerous - both to themselves and society at large. Underage alcohol use is associated with traffic fatalities, violence, unsafe sex, suicide, educational failure, and other problem behaviors that diminish the prospects of future success, as well as health risks â€" and the earlier teens start drinking, the greater the danger. Despite these serious concerns, the media continues to make drinking look attractive to youth, and it remains possible and even easy for teenagers to get access to alcohol. Why is this dangerous behavior so pervasive? What can be done to prevent it? What will work and who is responsible for making sure it happens? Reducing Underage Drinking addresses these questions and proposes a new way to combat underage alcohol use. It explores the ways in which may different individuals and groups contribute to the problem and how they can be enlisted to prevent it. Reducing Underage Drinking will serve as both a game plan and a call to arms for anyone with an investment in youth health and safety.

Nearly two thirds of full-time college students report alcohol use (Hingson, 2009). Previous research has identified risk factors that place college students at higher risk for problematic alcohol use (Hingson, 2009; Johnston et al., 2003; Marlatt et al., 2002). The present study examined the relationship between three personality traits, alcohol expectancies, alcohol consumption, and negative consequences of drinking among community college students.

This instructive manual presents a pragmatic and clinically proven approach to the prevention and treatment of undergraduate alcohol abuse. The BASICS model is a nonconfrontational, harm reduction approach that helps students reduce their alcohol consumption and decrease the behavioral and health risks associated with heavy drinking. Including numerous reproducible handouts and assessment forms, the book takes readers step-by-step through conducting BASICS assessment and feedback sessions. Special topics covered include the use of DSM-IV criteria to evaluate alcohol abuse, ways to counter student defensiveness about drinking, and obtaining additional treatment for students with severe alcohol dependency. Note about Photocopy Rights: The Publisher grants individual book purchasers nonassignable permission to reproduce selected figures, information sheets, and assessment instruments in this book for professional use. For details and limitations, see copyright page.

Personality, alcohol expectancies, and drinking motives have been identified as key factors affecting alcohol use and drinking patterns in college populations (Cooper et al., 2000; Katz et al., 2000; Kuntsche et al., 2008). To date, most research has focused on the mediating effects of motives to drink, rather than expectancies of drinking, on the relation between personality and alcohol use. The current study examined the mediating effects of both alcohol expectancies and motives on the relation between personality and alcohol use, specifically looking at the strength of these mediating variables in a sample of full-time college students. Two-hundred and seventy five undergraduate students completed an online questionnaire assessing personality (extraversion and neuroticism), alcohol expectancies (positive and negative), drinking motives (enhancement, coping, and social), and patterns of alcohol use (frequency and intensity). Results found small-to-moderate relations among study variables, with limited mediating effects of expectancies and motives.

Alcohol use is a pervasive problem among college students, with 59% of full-time students reporting alcohol use and 39% reporting binge drinking (SAMHSA, 2014). Although peers are known to influence alcohol consumption, the potential influence of personality characteristics are less well known. This study examined the role of regulatory focus and alcohol expectancies on the association between peers' consequences for alcohol use and participants' alcohol consumption. Exposure to peers' experience of consequences for alcohol use was expected to have an increased association with participants' expectancies and consumption when it was congruent with participants' regulatory focus. Prevention focus was expected to result in an increased negative response to negative consequences for peer alcohol use and promotion focus was expected to result in an increased positive response to positive consequences for peer alcohol use. The current study examined the potential effect of this person-situation congruence by having participants fill out a series of questionnaires online using SurveyMonkey. These questionnaires included measures of positive and negative consequences for peer alcohol use, positive and negative alcohol expectancies, regulatory focus, participants' own alcohol consumption, and perception of friends' alcohol use. Neither positive nor negative alcohol expectancies were found to mediate the association between consequences for peers' alcohol use and one's own drinking. Promotion focus was also not found to moderate the association of peers' positive consequences for alcohol use and one's own use or the association between peers' positive consequences for alcohol use and positive alcohol expectancies. On its own, prevention focus did moderate the association between negative consequences for peers' alcohol use and one's own drinking, such that it enhanced the inverse association between negative consequences and alcohol consumption. Prevention focus also moderated the association between negative consequences for peers' alcohol use and negative alcohol expectancies in an unexpected way, with participants with a higher level of prevention focus being less influenced by peers' consequences. These results suggest that there may be additional confounding variables that are not included in these models. Future studies should consider alternative methods of data collection and research designs, including experimental or quasi-experimental designs.

Updating and expanding the classic Psychological Theories of Drinking and Alcoholism, this fully revised second edition incorporates state-of-the-art presentations from leaders in the alcoholism field. Contributors review established and emerging approaches that guide research into the psychological processes influencing drinking and alcoholism. The volume's multidisciplinary approach also takes into account biological, pharmacological, and social factors, offering important insights into the development and escalation of drinking problems and the various approaches to treatment. Including significantly expanded coverage of developmental, social learning, and cognitive theories, the book features new chapters on genetics, neurobiology, and emotions.