An Evaluation of Individual and Group Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Members of Greek Letter Organizations to Free-pour Standards of Alcohol

College students engage in high levels of excessive drinking and certain subpopulations of college students, such as members of Greek Letter Organizations (GLOs) report higher levels of excessive alcohol consumptions. Those who report less excessive drinking also report counting their drinks and setting drink limits. However, the effectiveness of these strategies may be improved by the ability to accurately identify and pour standard servings of alcohol, an area in which college students’ knowledge is generally quite poor. Although individual behavioral skills training (BST) has been used to teach college students to accurately pour beer (Hankla et al., 2017), little is known about the effectiveness of BST when taught in a group setting, the setting most commonly used to teach college students accurate pouring, or when used with other alcohol types. Using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across GLO design, we evaluated the effects of BST on the accuracy of college students’ (n = 10) free-pours into an 18-oz red plastic cup of standard servings of (a) beer when taught in a group setting and (b) liquor when taught in an individual setting. Results indicate that following group BST, all participants provided accurate free-pours of beer, but fewer did so with the untrained generalization cup that differs in shape. Following individual BST, participants free-pours of liquor were variable and most required at least two BST sessions. These results suggest BST can be used to teach pairs of college students to pour standard serving of beer. Future research should further examine the variability observed in individual BST for liquor and further examine generality across vessel shape

The Use of Skills Training to Teach Members of Greek Letter Organizations to Free-Pour Standard Servings of Alcohol

University of the Pacific Graduate School Three Minute Thesis Competition The Use of Skills Training to Teach Members of Greek Letter Organizations to Free-Pour Standard Servings of Alcohol Meagan Strickland, MA in Psychology student, College of the Pacifi

An Evaluation of Individual and Group Behavioral Skills Training to Teach Members of Greek Letter Organizations to Free-pour Standards of Alcohol

College students engage in high levels of excessive drinking and certain subpopulations of college students, such as members of Greek Letter Organizations (GLOs) report higher levels of excessive alcohol consumptions. Those who report less excessive drinking also report counting their drinks and setting drink limits. However, the effectiveness of these strategies may be improved by the ability to accurately identify and pour standard servings of alcohol, an area in which college students’ knowledge is generally quite poor. Although individual behavioral skills training (BST) has been used to teach college students to accurately pour beer (Hankla et al., 2017), little is known about the effectiveness of BST when taught in a group setting, the setting most commonly used to teach college students accurate pouring, or when used with other alcohol types. Using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across GLO design, we evaluated the effects of BST on the accuracy of college students’ (n = 10) free-pours into an 18-oz red plastic cup of standard servings of (a) beer when taught in a group setting and (b) liquor when taught in an individual setting. Results indicate that following group BST, all participants provided accurate free-pours of beer, but fewer did so with the untrained generalization cup that differs in shape. Following individual BST, participants free-pours of liquor were variable and most required at least two BST sessions. These results suggest BST can be used to teach pairs of college students to pour standard serving of beer. Future research should further examine the variability observed in individual BST for liquor and further examine generality across vessel shape

The Effects of Behavioral Skills Trainingand Peer Modeling on College Students\u27 Pours

College students excessive alcohol consumption often results in negative consequences. Because students who avoid excessive drinking report counting their drinks, campus alcohol education courses are designed to teach students to accurately identify and pour standard servings. However, few studies have evaluated teaching this skill, and none have used BST. Because college students often imitate their peers, it is unclear if skills gained during BST would be lost in the presence of peers modeling inaccurate pouring. We used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across subjects design to evaluate the (1) use of BST to teach college students (N = 19) to pour standard servings of beer (12 fl oz), and (2) effects of inaccurate peer modeling on skill maintenance. Participants who poured inaccurately at baseline (n = 17), poured accurately after receiving BST. Immediately following BST, all participants engaged in a group training where they observed two confederate peers over-pour, under-pour, or pour accurately; all participants maintained accurate pouring. Results suggest BST can be used to teach accurate pouring and these skills maintain in the presence of inaccurate peer models. Directions for future research include evaluating BST in alcohol education courses with different alcohol types and vessels, along with maintenance in naturalistic settings

The Effects of Behavioral Skills Trainingand Peer Modeling on College Students\u27 Pours

College students excessive alcohol consumption often results in negative consequences. Because students who avoid excessive drinking report counting their drinks, campus alcohol education courses are designed to teach students to accurately identify and pour standard servings. However, few studies have evaluated teaching this skill, and none have used BST. Because college students often imitate their peers, it is unclear if skills gained during BST would be lost in the presence of peers modeling inaccurate pouring. We used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across subjects design to evaluate the (1) use of BST to teach college students (N = 19) to pour standard servings of beer (12 fl oz), and (2) effects of inaccurate peer modeling on skill maintenance. Participants who poured inaccurately at baseline (n = 17), poured accurately after receiving BST. Immediately following BST, all participants engaged in a group training where they observed two confederate peers over-pour, under-pour, or pour accurately; all participants maintained accurate pouring. Results suggest BST can be used to teach accurate pouring and these skills maintain in the presence of inaccurate peer models. Directions for future research include evaluating BST in alcohol education courses with different alcohol types and vessels, along with maintenance in naturalistic settings

Poor Pouring Peers: The Effects of Behavioral Skills Training (BST) and Peer Modeling on College Students’ Pours of Standard Servings of Beer

Excessive alcohol consumption among college students often results in negative consequences (e.g., driving drunk, injury, sexual assault). Campus alcohol education courses aim to teach students to accurately identify and pour standard servings, because counting drinks has been identified as a protective strategy against risky drinking. However, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of teaching this skill, and no published studies have evaluated the use of behavioral skills training (BST) for this purpose. Moreover, it is unclear whether observing peer models’ inaccurate behavior (e.g., during a group training class) would negate the positive effects of BST. We used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across subjects design to investigate (1) the effectiveness of BST to individually teach college students (N = 19) to accurately pour standard servings of beer (12 fl oz), and (2) the effects of peer modeling on skill maintenance immediately following BST. Following BST, participants partook in a “group training” in which they observed two confederate “peers” over-pour, under-pour, or pour accurately. Participants who poured inaccurately at baseline (n = 17), poured accurately post-training, and all participants (N = 19) maintained accurate pouring, regardless of peer presence or pouring behavior. These results suggest BST is effective for teaching college students to pour standard servings of beer. Directions for future research include evaluating use of BST in alcohol education courses, with different alcohol types and vessels, and maintenance in naturalistic settings

Poor Pouring Peers: The Effects of Behavioral Skills Training (BST) and Peer Modeling on College Students’ Pours of Standard Servings of Beer

Excessive alcohol consumption among college students often results in negative consequences (e.g., driving drunk, injury, sexual assault). Campus alcohol education courses aim to teach students to accurately identify and pour standard servings, because counting drinks has been identified as a protective strategy against risky drinking. However, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of teaching this skill, and no published studies have evaluated the use of behavioral skills training (BST) for this purpose. Moreover, it is unclear whether observing peer models’ inaccurate behavior (e.g., during a group training class) would negate the positive effects of BST. We used a nonconcurrent multiple baseline across subjects design to investigate (1) the effectiveness of BST to individually teach college students (N = 19) to accurately pour standard servings of beer (12 fl oz), and (2) the effects of peer modeling on skill maintenance immediately following BST. Following BST, participants partook in a “group training” in which they observed two confederate “peers” over-pour, under-pour, or pour accurately. Participants who poured inaccurately at baseline (n = 17), poured accurately post-training, and all participants (N = 19) maintained accurate pouring, regardless of peer presence or pouring behavior. These results suggest BST is effective for teaching college students to pour standard servings of beer. Directions for future research include evaluating use of BST in alcohol education courses, with different alcohol types and vessels, and maintenance in naturalistic settings