ArticleAlcoholism, clinical and experimental research2019
Incorporating Writing into a Personalized Normative Feedback Intervention to Reduce Problem Drinking Among College Students.
Article in Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials examining social comparison as a behaviour change technique across the behavioural sciences.Nature human behaviour · 2025Pooled it
- Mechanisms of Change in Digital Health Interventions for Mental Disorders in Youth: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Pooled it
- The efficacy of Personalized Normative Feedback interventions across addictions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2021Pooled it
- 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
- Pilot Randomized Trial of an Expressive Writing Intervention to Reduce Sexual HIV-Transmission Risk and Substance Use Among Emerging Adult Gay and Bisexual Men.AIDS and behavior · 2022Trial
- Integrating social media inspired features into a personalized normative feedback intervention combats social media-based alcohol influence.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2021Trial
- Computer-delivered personalized feedback intervention for hazardous drinkers with elevated anxiety sensitivity: A pilot randomized controlled trial.Behaviour research and therapy · 2021Trial
- Examining the viewing pattern of Web-delivered personalized feedback interventions aimed at reducing alcohol-related risky sexual behavior among young adults.Journal of American college health : J of ACHTrial
- Changes in Drinking Motives Do Not Mediate Reductions in Alcohol Use and Consequences Following a Brief Alcohol Intervention.Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs · 2026Article
- Brief transdiagnostic cognitive behavioral therapy and expressive writing for hazardous drinking and posttraumatic stress symptoms among sexual and gender minority adults: Pilot trial protocol.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2026Article
- Article
- Expressive writing treatments to reduce PTSD symptom severity and negative alcohol-related outcomes among trauma-exposed sexual minority women and transgender/nonbinary people: Study protocol for a mixed-method pilot trial.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2023Article
- Shyness and susceptibility to social influence: Stronger concordance between norms and drinking among shy individuals.Addictive behaviors · 2021Article
- Finding the Right Balance: A Social Norms Intervention to Reduce Heavy Drinking in University Students.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPersonalized normative feedback (PNF) interventions have repeatedly been found to reduce drinking among undergraduates. However, effects tend to be small, potentially due to inattention to and inadequate processing of the information. Adding a writing component to PNF interventions may allow for greater cognitive processing of the feedback, thereby boosting intervention efficacy. Additionally, expressive writing (EW) has been shown to reduce drinking intentions; however, studies have not examined whether it can reduce drinking behavior. The present experiment evaluated whether including a writing task would improve the efficacy of PNF and whether EW alone can be used to reduce drinking and alcohol-related problems.
methodsHeavy drinking undergraduates (N = 250) were randomized to receive either: (i) PNF about their alcohol use; (ii) EW about a negative, heavy drinking occasion; (iii) PNFplus writing about the norms feedback; or (iv) attention control feedback about their technology use in an online brief intervention. Participants (N = 169) then completed a 1-month follow-up survey about their past month alcohol use and alcohol-related problems online.
resultsPNFplus writing reduced alcohol-related problems compared to all other conditions. No significant reductions were found for EW. Both PNF and PNFplus writing reduced perceived norms and perceived norms mediated intervention effects for both feedback conditions.
conclusionsThe current findings suggest that adding a writing component to traditional norms-based feedback approaches might be an efficacious strategy, particularly for reducing alcohol-related consequences.
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