An Incentive/Reward Intervention to Decrease Alcohol Abuse at Fraternity Parties: Differential Reinforcement of Blood Alcohol Concentration

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dc.contributor.authorFournier, Angela Kromen
dc.contributor.committeechairGeller, E. Scotten
dc.contributor.committeememberWinett, Richard A.en
dc.contributor.committeememberGlindemann, Kent E.en
dc.contributor.committeememberFinney, Jack W.en
dc.contributor.departmentPsychologyen
dc.date.accessioned2014-03-14T20:50:15Zen
dc.date.adate2002-03-28en
dc.date.available2014-03-14T20:50:15Zen
dc.date.issued2001-12-11en
dc.date.rdate2003-03-28en
dc.date.sdate2001-12-18en
dc.description.abstractThis 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.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Scienceen
dc.identifier.otheretd-12182001-155945en
dc.identifier.sourceurlhttp://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-12182001-155945/en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/36260en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.relation.haspartangie1.pdfen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectblood alcohol concentrationen
dc.subjectDifferential reinforcementen
dc.titleAn Incentive/Reward Intervention to Decrease Alcohol Abuse at Fraternity Parties: Differential Reinforcement of Blood Alcohol Concentrationen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychologyen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Scienceen
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