title: Processing of Alcohol-Related Health Threat in At-Risk Drinkers: An Online Study of Gender-Related Self-Affirmation Effects.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Defensiveness in response to threatening health information related to excessive alcohol consumption prevents appropriate behaviour change. Alternatively, self-affirmation may improve cognitive-affective processing of threatening information, thus contributing to successful self-regulation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Effects of an online self-affirmation procedure were examined in at-risk university student drinkers. Participants were randomly assigned to a self-affirmation (writing about personally relevant values) or control task (writing about values relevant to another person) prior to presentation of alcohol-related threatening information. Assessment of prosocial feelings (e.g. 'love') after the task served as a manipulation check. Generic and personalized information regarding the link between alcohol use and cancer was presented, followed by assessment of perceived threat, message avoidance and derogation. Page dwell-times served as indirect indices of message engagement. Alcohol consumption and intention to drink less were assessed during the first online session and at 1-week and 1-month follow-up.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Although self-affirmation resulted in higher levels of prosocial feelings immediately after the task, there was no effect on behaviour in the self-affirmation group. Effects on intention were moderated by gender, such that men showed lower intention immediately after self-affirmation, but this increased at 1-week follow-up. Women's intention to reduce consumption in the self-affirmation group reduced over time. Trend-level effects on indices of derogation and message acceptance were in the predicted direction only in men.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is feasible to perform self-affirmation procedures in an online environment with at-risk drinkers. However, use of internet-based procedures with this population may give rise to (gender-dependent) effects that are substantially diluted compared with lab-based experiments.
authors.affiliation: Research Department of Clinical Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK sunjeev.kamboj@ucl.ac.uk sunjeevk@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Sunjeev K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kamboj
authors.affiliation: Research Department of Clinical Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Place
authors.affiliation: Research Department of Clinical Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Jessica A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Barton
authors.affiliation: eHealth Unit, Research Department of Primary Care and Population Health, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Linke
authors.affiliation: Research Department of Clinical Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: H Valerie
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Falmer, UK.
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Harris
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D000067292:Alcohol Drinking in College / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D055815:Young Adult