The College, Alcohol and Peers Study (CAPS)

NCT03890484 | Terminated Results

• 2 other identifiers: STUDY00006279F31AA027471-01
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 13
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The present study will evaluate college students (N=100) from 2- and 4-year colleges/universities between 21-24 years old to assess anxiety, affect, broad social motives (BSM) and peer group influences on drinking and other risk-taking behaviors. This study will employ two sound scientific methods for testing behavior during drinking events (i.e., lab alcohol administration and daily diary) and use novel strategies to compare results of these two methods in the same sample. Using an ad-lib drinking paradigm, students' risk-taking, as measured by the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART), will be assessed when alone and during one of two randomly assigned peer group conditions (close friends or new peers). Participants will be allowed to freely drink (within safety limits) with their peer group prior to completing the BART again. These same students will complete daily electronic diaries on four weekends (Thursday - Sunday; total 24 assessments) regarding BSM, motives to drink, peers in their social group, alcohol use and consequences, and if/how their social group changed (e.g., few close friends to large party with many new peers) during the drinking event. Competing hypotheses will be tested such that: 1) anxiety is expected to be a stronger predictor of drinking behavior and greater differences in risk-taking in the new peer condition than close friend condition or 2) BSM is expected to be a stronger predictor of drinking behavior and greater differences in risk-taking in the close friend condition than new peers condition. Results are expected to be replicated in the daily diary reports. Further, this multimethod approach will allow us to evaluate how behavior assessed in the lab predicts naturally occurring behaviors in an uncontrolled setting. For example, the investigators will assess whether greater increases in self-reported risk-taking from baseline to after entering peer groups in the bar lab setting will predict heavier drinking on nights when most drinking companions are close friends reported during daily diary.

Conditions

Alcohol Drinking

Keywords

Alcohol use; Risk-taking; Anxiety; Motives; Multimethod

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (5)

• Alcohol Use

  Number of drinks consumed

  During 1 hour ad-lib period, starting an average of 1 hour after Baseline.

• Alcohol Use - Daily Diary

  Number of drinks consumed, self-reported the morning after drinking events

  4 weeks following ad-lib.

• Alcohol Consequences

  Self-report of the Young Adult Alcohol Problems Screening Test (YAAPST). Count of number of consequences experienced. Range: 0-27. Higher scores represent more consequences experienced.

  4 weeks following ad-lib.

• Risk-taking

  Scores on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Scores are calculated by adding the number of pumps for unexploded balloons, with higher scores reflecting greater risk-taking. Range varies - explosions are at a random point between 1 and 128 pumps.

  Change from baseline (alone) to 20 minutes following Peer Type intervention.

• Risk-taking

  Scores on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Scores are calculated by adding the number of pumps for unexploded balloons, with higher scores reflecting greater risk-taking. Range varies - explosions are at a random point between 1 and 128 pumps.

  Change from baseline (alone) to immediately following ad-lib, an average of 2 hours after baseline.

Study Arms (2)

New Peers

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will drink with two new peers (i.e. strangers), who they did not know prior to the study and their Peer Type.

Behavioral: Peer Type - New Peer

Close Friends

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will recruit and drink with two of their close friends and their Peer Type

Behavioral: Peer Type - Close Friends

Interventions

Peer Type - New Peer BEHAVIORAL

Participants drink with 2 unfamiliar confederate peers

New Peers

Peer Type - Close Friends BEHAVIORAL

Participants drink with 2 close friends

Close Friends

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 21 Years - 24 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• currently enrolled in college
• has consumed 3 or more alcoholic drinks in one sitting at least once in the past month
• drinking frequency of once a week

You may not qualify if:

• past-month alcohol
• past-month other substance dependence,
• past-month mood disorder
• past-month anxiety disorder
• past-moth suicidal ideation
• excessive alcohol use reaching a BAC greater than .30% in past month
• history of serious medical conditions
• regular use of prescription psychotropic or pain medication
• history of negative reactions to alcohol
• history of treatment for alcohol use disorder
• pregnancy
• nursing

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Washington: lead
• National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

The Center for the Study of Health and Risk Behaviors

Seattle, Washington, 98105, United States

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Alcohol Drinking; Risk-Taking; Anxiety Disorders

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Drinking Behavior; Behavior; Mental Disorders

Results Point of Contact

• Title: Dr. Jessica Canning
• Organization: University of Washington

jrcannin@uw.edu

206.221.4430

Study Officials

• Mary E Larimer, PhD

  University of Washington

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: No
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Professor, School of Medicine, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Model Details: Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions, which will run in parallel.

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 20, 2018
• First Posted: March 26, 2019
• Study Start: January 25, 2020
• Primary Completion: July 3, 2022
• Study Completion: July 3, 2022
• Last Updated: April 17, 2024
• Results First Posted: April 17, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-03

Locations

US (1)