Abstract
College student alcohol use remains a significant public health issue. College students
consume alcohol at higher rates than their non-college peers, and the annual
consequences associated with college student drinking include hundreds of thousands
of physical and sexual assaults and over 1,500 fatalities. Although most colleges and
universities have implemented evidence-based prevention and intervention programs,
recent research suggests that rates of drinking-related harms have changed little, and
that most widely used programs may not be as effective as once thought. Identifying
cost-effective ways to reduce problematic alcohol use and associated harms remains
vitally important. Based on decades of theoretical and applied research, alcohol
expectancies could be a prime target for development of effective prevention and
intervention methods. Expectancies mediate the influence of other antecedent variables,
predict future alcohol use, and may be a causal variable that directly influences drinking
behavior. Education focused on expectancies is ineffective in producing behavior
change. Use of experiential expectancy challenge methods that include a drinking
exercise have been effective in the laboratory, but are impractical for widespread use.
The Expectancy Challenge Alcohol Literacy Curriculum (ECALC) is a 50-minute
interactive program, and the only non-experiential expectancy challenge that has been
successful in significantly reducing alcohol use among college students. In studies
focused on mandated students, fraternity and sorority members, and first year college
students, ECALC has produced larger effect sizes than experiential expectancy
challenge and all widely used programs. ECALC outcome studies have thus far been
limited to four weeks, but the design of ECALC suggests that effects might be sustained
for much longer. The primary aim of the proposed project is to evaluate duration of
ECALC effects over the course of 6 months, and to assess the impact of smart phone-
delivered boosters on maintenance and enhancement of effects. If successful, this
project will validate the use of ECALC as an efficient and effective program for reducing
problematic alcohol use and negative consequences among college students.
