Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26164065›Full record

SynthesisClinical psychology review2015

Interventions to reduce college student drinking: State of the evidence for mechanisms of behavior change.

Allecia E Reid, Kate B Carey

Registry-linked trialAbstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Clinical psychology review, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04978129 (Examining Motivations for and Quality of Alcohol and Marijuana Protective Behavior Strategy Use), which is not on this map. Cited by 113 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
113citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
10.5field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT04978129 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2023, after this paper: background citation

Examining Motivations for and Quality of Alcohol and Marijuana Protective Behavior Strategy Use: Improving Prevention of Hazardous Young Adult Substance Use

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of North Texas Health Science CenterRan2023 to 2025Enrolled162ConditionsHealth Risk Behaviors, Risk Reduction BehaviorArmsOnline and Text Messaging Intervention
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

113 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 183 citations in OpenAlex.

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  7. Protective behavioral strategies and alcohol consequences following a group-based motivational intervention for young adults experiencing homelessness.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2025
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53 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Allecia E ReidCenter for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University, United States; Colby College, Department of Psychology, United States; Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University School of Public Health, United States. Electronic address: aereid@colby.edu.
Kate B CareyCenter for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University, United States; Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University School of Public Health, United States.
Colby College · USJohn Brown University · US

Funding

BRIEF INTERVENTIONS FOR BINGE DRINKING COLLEGE STUDENTSR01AA012518 · NIAAA · SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY · PI CAREY, KATE B · 2000 to 2014
$5.1M
NIAAA NIH HHS R01 AA012518NIAAA NIH HHS R01-AA012518
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Interventions to reduce college student drinking, although efficacious, generally yield only small effects on behavior change. Examining mechanisms of change may help to improve the magnitude of intervention effects by identifying effective and ineffective active ingredients. Informed by guidelines for establishing mechanisms of change, we conducted a systematic review of alcohol interventions for college students to identify (a) which constructs have been examined and received support as mediators, (b) circumstances that enhance the likelihood of detecting mediation, and (c) the extent of evidence for mechanisms of change. We identified 61 trials that examined 22 potential mediators of intervention efficacy. Descriptive norms consistently mediated normative feedback interventions. Motivation to change consistently failed to mediate motivational interviewing interventions. Multiple active ingredient interventions were not substantially more likely to find evidence of mediation than single ingredient interventions. Delivering intervention content remotely reduced likelihood of finding support for mediation. With the exception of descriptive norms, there is inadequate evidence for the psychosocial constructs purported as mechanisms of change in the college drinking literature. Evidence for mechanisms will be yielded by future studies that map all active ingredients to targeted psychosocial outcomes and that assess potential mediators early, inclusively, and at appropriate intervals following interventions.

Indexed as

AdultAlcohol Drinking in CollegeAlcohol-Related DisordersHumansOutcome Assessment, Health CareYoung AdultAlcohol preventionCollege studentsMechanisms of changeMediationSystematic review

Identifiers

PMID26164065
PMCPMC4537835
OpenAlexW981833174

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

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.