Trial reportJournal of consulting and clinical psychology2013
RCT of web-based personalized normative feedback for college drinking prevention: are typical student norms good enough?
Trial report in Journal of consulting and clinical psychology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 79 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Guilt and Expressive Writing for Reducing Alcohol Use in College Students
An Adaptive Preventive Intervention to Optimize the Transition From Universal to Indicated Resources for College Student Alcohol Use
Who cites it
79 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 132 citations in OpenAlex.
- Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials examining social comparison as a behaviour change technique across the behavioural sciences.Nature human behaviour · 2025Pooled it
- The efficacy of Personalized Normative Feedback interventions across addictions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Personalised digital interventions for reducing hazardous and harmful alcohol consumption in community-dwelling populations.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Examining personalized feedback interventions for gambling disorders: A systematic review.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2016Pooled it
- Social norms information for alcohol misuse in university and college students.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015Pooled it
- Electronic Interventions for Alcohol Misuse and Alcohol Use Disorders: A Systematic Review.Annals of internal medicine · 2015Pooled it
- Interventions to reduce college student drinking: State of the evidence for mechanisms of behavior change.Clinical psychology review · 2015Pooled it
- Stand-Alone Personalized Normative Feedback for College Student Drinkers: A Meta-Analytic Review, 2004 to 2014.PloS one · 2015Pooled it
- Incentives and delivery modality as moderators of a web-based personalized normative feedback intervention for heavy-drinking college students.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2025Trial
- Reduced drinking as a mechanism for alcohol and violence-related intervention effects from Positive Change©.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Trial
- Pilot randomized controlled trial of a tailored personalized normative feedback intervention for college student alcohol use.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Trial
- Examining the longer-term efficacy of brief, alcohol-focused personalized feedback interventions for individuals with internalizing distress: Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2025Trial
- Preliminary Efficacy of Positive Change(+Change): A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of an Integrated Alcohol and Sexual Assault Prevention Program Tailored by Gender and Sexual Orientation.Journal of interpersonal violence · 2025Trial
- Smartphone-Based Intervention Targeting Norms and Risk Perception Among University Students with Unhealthy Alcohol Use: Secondary Mediation Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Examining engagement effects in an adaptive preventive intervention for college student drinking.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2023Trial
- Personalized normative feedback for hazardous drinking among college women: Differential outcomes by history of incapacitated rape.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2023Trial
- Repeated Assessment of Alcohol Use and Perceived Norms Among College Students Who Drink: Comparisons to a Minimal Assessment at 12-Month Follow-Up.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2022Trial
- Effects of within- and between-person assessments of alcohol expectancies and valuations on use and consequences moderated by sex.Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research · 2021Trial
- Main outcomes of M-bridge: A sequential multiple assignment randomized trial (SMART) for developing an adaptive preventive intervention for college drinking.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2021Trial
19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesPersonalized normative feedback (PNF) interventions are generally effective at correcting normative misperceptions and reducing risky alcohol consumption among college students. However, research has yet to establish what level of reference group specificity is most efficacious in delivering PNF. This study compared the efficacy of a web-based PNF intervention using 8 increasingly specific reference groups against a Web-BASICS intervention and a repeated-assessment control in reducing risky drinking and associated consequences.
methodParticipants were 1,663 heavy-drinking Caucasian and Asian undergraduates at 2 universities. The referent for web-based PNF was either the typical same-campus student or a same-campus student at 1 (either gender, race, or Greek affiliation), or a combination of 2 (e.g., gender and race), or all 3 levels of specificity (i.e., gender, race, and Greek affiliation). Hypotheses were tested using quasi-Poisson generalized linear models fit by generalized estimating equations.
resultsThe PNF intervention participants showed modest reductions in all 4 outcomes (average total drinks, peak drinking, drinking days, and drinking consequences) compared with control participants. No significant differences in drinking outcomes were found between the PNF group as a whole and the Web-BASICS group. Among the 8 PNF conditions, participants receiving typical student PNF demonstrated greater reductions in all 4 outcomes compared with those receiving PNF for more specific reference groups. Perceived drinking norms and discrepancies between individual behavior and actual norms mediated the efficacy of the intervention.
conclusionsFindings suggest a web-based PNF intervention using the typical student referent offers a parsimonious approach to reducing problematic alcohol use outcomes among college students.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.