Browsing by Author "Kalsher, Michael J."
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- 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.
- A behavior analysis of alcohol consumption and impairment at university partiesKalsher, Michael J. (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1988)Four field experiments were conducted to examine situational determinants of alcohol consumption at university fraternity parties. Certain manipulated variables were relevant to the development of environmental strategies for predicting and decreasing excessive alcohol consumption and deterring alcohol impaired driving. When entering university-sanctioned parties, students were asked a few questions and then they received a drink container and a stick-on badge, each with an ID number. During these parties, individual drinking rates of beer and mixed drinks or beer only were monitored under varying environmental conditions. When exiting the party, students' blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) were obtained with a breathalizer. In Experiment 1, three types of beer (Budweiser, Bud Light, and LA) were available in kegs labeled "A", "B", and "C". At a second party the kegs were labeled according to beer content (i.e., Budweiser, Bud Light, and LA). Results showed significant differences in drink choice across parties, with Budweiser most preferred by males and females when kegs did not indicate beer content and Bud Light most preferred by males and females when the kegs were labeled according to brand. The low alcohol (LA) choice was only selected substantially when the kegs did not reflect beer content. In Experiment 2, students of legal—drinking age at each of two weekend fraternity parties chose one of two types of alcoholic beverages (beer or mixed drinks) to consume throughout the night. Unbeknownst to the partiers, at the first of these two parties the beer drinkers were served regular beer, whereas at the second party low alcohol beer was served. Drinking rates were similar for beer and mixed-drink consumption at both parties; at the party with LA beer, students‘ mean BAC when leaving the party was significantly lower for the beer drinkers (i.e., .026 for LA consumers vs. .063 for mixed-drink consumers) For Experiment 3, students of legal drinking age at a weekend fraternity party chose one of two types of alcoholic beverages (beer or mixed drinks) to drink throughout the night. Unbeknownst to the partiers, drinkers were randomly assigned to either a regular alcohol content or low alcohol content version of their preferred beverage type. The drinking rates were greater for beer drinkers than for partiers consuming mixed drinks. Drinking rates were similar for both the low and regular alcohol alternatives. However, exit BAC was significantly greater for those in the regular-alcohol conditions. In Experiment 4, the alcoholic beverages available to students of legal—drinking age at one party (i.e., mixed drinks and beer) were served either by bartenders or served by themselves. A test of the theory of reasoned action was conducted by attempting to predict the number of drinks consumed and exit BAC from measures of general and specific intentions obtained two weeks before the party and at the start of the party. Specific drinking intentions obtained at the start of the party predicted a significant amount of variance in exit BAC (R = .59). The manipulation of situational variables also accounted for a portion of the variance in the number of drinks consumed and exit BAC. One environmental determinant at this party was the nature of drink delivery (i.e., self-serve vs. bartender). Male and female beer drinkers assigned to the Self-Serve condition drank at a higher rate and consumed more of their preferred beverage type than did those drinkers served by a bartender, or by those consuming mixed drinks in the self-serve condition. This increase was highest for male partiers. Male and female mixed drink consumers assigned to the Self·Serve condition drank at the lowest rate and consumed the least amount of their preferred beverage type.