title: Baseline characteristics of college freshmen enrolled in an alcohol intervention program.
abstract: This study is a baseline analysis of the demographic and behavioral characteristics of freshmen students recruited to enter a longitudinal multi-component intervention program based on the Brief Alcohol Screening, and Intervention for College Students (BASICS) program. The aim of the study was to determine the associations among the participants' gender, ethnicity, age, drinking, psychological problems, sexual contacts, and illegal substance use. Freshmen participants (n = 186) were between the ages of 18 and 20 with a mean age of 18.51 ± 0.62, and 37.6% of the participants were males. Three surveys were administered at baseline: the Daily Drinking Questionnaire (DDQ;  Collins, Parks, & Marlatt, 1985 ); Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI;  White & Labouvie, 1989 ), Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA;  Office of Management and Budget [OMB], 1993 ), Client Outcome Measures for Discretionary Programs and Best Practices grantees. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the behavioral characteristics. During past 30 days participants on average consumed alcohol on 7.3 ± 5.2 days, used illegal substances 3.0 ± 7.2 days and had 5.3 ± 7.0 sexual contacts and less 2.1 ± 4.6 unprotected sexual contacts (USC). Results of this baseline analysis demonstrate the diversity of the program participant demographic characteristics and behavioral patterns. This study contributes valuable implications for the design of interventions programs to address high-risk behaviors among freshmen college students.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, UNCC Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA. dkazemi@uncc.edu
authors.forename: Donna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Kazemi
authors.forename: Linman
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Mary A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Nies
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dmochowski
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walford
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000367:Age Factors; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D037001:Directive Counseling; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D012919:Social Behavior; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult