Browsing by Author "Glindemann, Kent E."
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- Alcohol Expectancies and Self-Efficacy as Moderators of Social Anxiety and Alcohol Use Among College StudentsEhrhart, Ian James (Virginia Tech, 2005-11-14)Social anxiety is widely thought to be positively associated with alcohol use. However, these studies rely primarily on self-report of drinking behavior. This research aimed to further explore this research by assessing blood alcohol concentration (BAC), a physiological measure of alcohol intoxication, as the dependent measure in naturalistic settings (i.e., fraternity parties). Results from Study 1 suggest a weak relationship between self-reported anxiety levels and BAC. Study 2 was based on Burke and Stephen's (1999) proposed social cognitive model in which alcohol expectancies and drink-refusal self-efficacy act as moderators of the relationship between dispositional social anxiety and alcohol consumption. Analyses (n=86) did not support a relationship between social anxiety and alcohol use, nor the moderating effects of alcohol expectancies and drink-refusal self-efficacy. Implications for this type of research and possible future directions are discussed.
- Assessing levels of intoxication through behavioral observationGlindemann, Kent E. (Virginia Tech, 1990-04-20)The primary goals of this research were: 1) to develop an alcohol intoxication detection aid (IDA) that can be used to estimate reliably and accurately another person's level of alcohol impairment; 2) to evaluate the effect of alcohol on a computer-controlled critical tracking task (CTT), which assesses skills important to driving a vehicle; and 3) to examine the relationships between these two instruments and measured blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Teplin and Lutz (1985) developed an alcohol intoxication checklist for use in a hospital emergency room. Their results indicated a high correlation (.85) between actual BAC and intoxication estimates obtained by applying their checklist. This thesis refined and extended this prior checklist procedure for use with college populations, and included procedures to measure its validity and reliability. The CTT is a computer task which requires a subject to make a response to a brief digital display. Dependent measures include subjects' response time and error rate. Subjects' performance was consequently correlated with their BAC. The subjects were university students (n = 232) consuming alcoholic beverages at three regularly scheduled weekend fraternity parties. Subjects were recruited for testing from among those in attendance at these parties. Subjects were of legal drinking age. Results for both instruments were instructive and encouraging. Although reliability and validity coefficients for use of the IDA during the first party were unacceptably low. the changes made in the experimental methodology after this testing proved beneficial. Results of IDA use at the third party showed substantial increases in both interrater reliability and correlation with actual BAC. These results, however, were found to vary across individual judges. With CTT performance, mean response time and mean error rate were both reliable indicators of intoxication, and results stood up fairly well under a signal detection approach to the data analysis. Implications for use of both instruments in real-world settings are discussed.
- Determinants of alcohol intoxication and social responsibility for DUI-risk at university partiesGlindemann, Kent E. (Virginia Tech, 1995-11-05)Alcohol abuse among youth and young adults and accompanying undesirable behaviors (e.g., physical aggressiveness, vandalism, date rape, DUI) is a significant public health problem. This field research examined various intervention techniques for reducing excessive alcohol consumption in party settings. Prior to four fraternity parties, students' drinking intentions, lifestyles, and person characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, optimism, personal control, group cohesion, sensation seeking) were measured. Before and after the fraternity parties, students' blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was objectively assessed with a breathalyzer. During the fraternity parties, students' participation in various intervention techniques was systematically observed. The impact of the intervention process for reducing the risk of DUI was assessed with both within-subject and between-subject comparisons. That is, two fraternities and two sororities participated in two successive parties, one with the intervention process and the other as a control (with a balanced AB vs. BA format). It was hypothesized that the intervention techniques would reduce excessive alcohol consumption and DUI risk from comparisons within the same fraternity / sorority and between two different fraternities/sororities. It was also hypothesized that students' behavioral intentions to consume alcohol would predict their subsequent drinking behavior at a party. The intervention phase of the research was not successful in reducing overall intoxication rates at the fraternity parties studied. Students' intentions to consume alcohol, however, was a significant predictor of intoxication rates, accounting for 28 percent of the variance of exit BAC across all parties. Implications of this research for the design of future interventions aimed at curtailing the excessive use of alcohol among young adults are discussed.
- An Incentive/Reward Intervention to Decrease Alcohol Abuse at Fraternity Parties: Differential Reinforcement of Blood Alcohol ConcentrationFournier, Angela Krom (Virginia Tech, 2001-12-11)This quasi-experimental field study examined the efficacy of an intervention to decrease alcohol abuse by college students. The harm reduction approach states that the ultimate goal when dealing with an unsafe behavior should be abstinence, but any change in behavior in the direction of less harm is supported. This approach was used as the basis of the current research, in combination with differential reinforcement in order to reduce alcohol consumption and its behavioral outcome, blood alcohol concentration (BAC). A total of 409 male and female college students participated while in the applied setting of four fraternity parties. The study took place at two separate fraternity houses, a control fraternity and an experimental fraternity. During the intervention phase, participants with a BAC below .05 were entered into a raffle to win a cash prize. Upon entry to the intervention party, participants were given flyers announcing the raffle and contingency, and gender-specific nomograms to aid in BAC self-monitoring. Dependent measures were blood alcohol concentration measured by hand-held breathalyzers, percentage of participants below criterion BAC levels (i.e., .05 and .08), accuracy of BAC self-estimation, number of negative outcomes due to excessive alcohol consumption, number of positive outcomes due to abstinence or moderate alcohol consumption, and amount of reported fun experienced at the party. Results showed the intervention did not significantly reduce the intoxication of participants or increase the percentage of participants below criterion BAC levels. These results are best explained by a floor effect, as the experimental fraternity had a relatively low baseline BAC. The use of nomograms at the intervention party increased the accuracy of students' BAC self-estimations. Implications for nomogram use and improvements for future implementation of the incentive/reward intervention are discussed.
- Quantifying the Power of Pets: The Development of an Assessment Device to Measure Attachment Between Humans and Companion AnimalsGeller, Krista Scott (Virginia Tech, 2005-04-21)This study developed and evaluated a 34-item scale designed to measure human and companion animal attachment. A total of 398 individuals, ranging in age from 18 to 87, who have a pet completed the Pet-Attachment Scale (PAS). These individuals also completed the Companion Animal Bonding Scale (CABS), which asks respondents how much caretaking they devote to their pets. The PAS and the CABS were highly correlated, r=-.68 (p<.001), with an overlapping variance of 46%. The inter-item consistency or Chronbach's Alpha of the PAS was .961, compared to a Chronbach's Alpha of .862 for the CABS. The factor analysis of the PAS revealed two factors; Companionship (12 items) and Emotional Fulfillment (7 items). Thus, the PAS can be shortened to 19 items for follow-up research. The factor analysis for the CABS revealed only one factor (i.e., caretaking), and the analysis suggested the scale could be reduced from 8 to 3 items. The strong correlations between the PAS and the CABS suggest concurrent, convergent, and construct validity for the PAS. A stepwise regression for the PAS revealed three significant predictors: 1) responsibility, 2) favorite pet chosen, and 3) gender. Women who were responsible for their pet, and did not select a particular pet as their favorite, scored highest on attachment to their pets. A stepwise regression for the CABS revealed four predictors: 1) responsibility, 2) favorite pet chosen, 3) live with this pet, and 4) gender. These predictors for the CABS were the same as for the PAS, with the addition that those who lived with their pet gave more caretaking than those who did not. Analysis of variance was used to explore the effects of the predictor variables on the PAS and the CABS. These analyses revealed significant effects of gender and age category on both pet attachment (PAS) and pet caretaking (CABS). Women in the middle age category were most attached to their pets (PAS) and gave the most caretaking to their pets (CABS). The unique feature of the PAS, not measured by the CABS, was an Emotional Fulfillment factor. Future research should distinguish between pet attachment as companionship versus emotional fulfillment.