Do protective behavioral strategies mediate the relationship between drinking motives and alcohol use in college students?
OBJECTIVE
Heavy alcohol use among college students represents a public health problem on American college campuses. Use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS) has been shown to be related to reduced alcohol use and fewer alcohol-related problems, but the relationship of PBS to other alcohol-related constructs is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of PBS mediated the relationship between positively and negatively reinforcing drinking motives and both alcohol use and alcohol-related problems.


METHODS
Data were collected on 254 undergraduate students at a large, public university in the northeast region of the United States. Approximately one third (n = 90) of the participants were volunteers, whereas the remaining individuals enrolled in the study as an option for satisfying an alcohol-related campus judicial sanction.


RESULTS
Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that use of PBS partially mediated the relationships between positively reinforcing (i.e., social and enhancement) drinking motives and both alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Use of PBS did not mediate the relationship between negatively reinforcing (i.e., coping) drinking motives and alcohol use or alcohol-related problems. The theoretical models accounted for 26% of the variance in alcohol use and 24% of the variance in alcohol-related problems.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that PBS should be incorporated into theoretical models devoted to understanding college student drinking.
Martens
Matthew P
MP
Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, ED220 University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12222, USA. mmartens@uamail.albany.edu
Ferrier
Amanda G
AG
Cimini
M Dolores
MD
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003071:Cognition; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009042:Motivation; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013695:Temperance; D014495:Universities