Perceived incompetence and disordered eating among college students.

The concepts of ineffectiveness and task-specific failure have both been studied in relation to disordered eating. A new, related concept that may have more clinical utility is that of perceived incompetence, or the feeling that one is inadequate in specific life domains. The purposes of this study were to (a) validate a measure of perceived incompetence, and (b) determine the degree to which perceived incompetence and disordered eating are related and the implications of such a relationship. Participants were 403 undergraduate students who completed questionnaires to assess levels of perceived incompetence, disordered eating, and self-esteem. Based on adequate convergent validity with a measure of self-esteem and a confirmatory factor analysis, this measure of perceived incompetence was deemed appropriate for use. Additionally, bivariate correlations indicated that perceived incompetence in life domains such as Appearance, Close Friendships, Morality, and Social Acceptance, was related to disordered eating. Clinicians may want to incorporate perceived incompetence into treatment by encouraging students to find healthier ways to cope or helping them accept or focus less on areas of perceived incompetence.

Measuring alcohol-related protective behavioral strategies among college students: further examination of the Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale.

Heavy drinking among college students has been recognized as a public health problem on American college campuses (e.g., R. Hingson, T. Heeren, M. Winter, & H. Wechsler, 2005). Recently, protective behavioral strategies, or cognitive-behavioral strategies that can be implemented when using alcohol to reduce consumption and resulting negative consequences, have been shown to be associated with less alcohol use and fewer alcohol-related problems (e.g., S. L. Benton et al., 2004; M. P. Martens et al., 2005). The purpose of the present study was to conduct additional psychometric work on a measure designed to assess the use of such strategies: the Protective Behavioral Strategies Scale (PBSS; M. P. Martens et al., 2005). Data were collected on 505 undergraduate students from 2 universities who reported having consumed alcohol at least once in the past 30 days. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized 3-factor version of the PBSS, and scores on each subscale were correlated in the expected direction with both alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Thus, the PBSS appears to be reliable and valid for use among college student drinkers.

The relationship between disordered eating behavior and drinking motives in college-age women.

Previous research has documented that alcohol use disorders and eating disorders often co-occur. One possible reason for these high rates of co-occurrence is that problematic eating and alcohol use serve similar functions for the persons engaging in them. In particular, both have been hypothesized to serve an avoidant coping function. This study was designed to examine the relationships between drinking motives and disordered eating in a sample of college-age women. A total of 257 women completed the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), Rutgers Alcohol Problems Index (RAPI), and Drinking Motives Measure (DMM). As hypothesized, problematic eating and problematic drinking were positively correlated. Also, regression analyses indicated a strong relationship between problematic eating and the coping scale of the DMM, which measures avoidant coping. This study extends previous research and provides support for the idea that problematic eating and problematic drinking serve similar avoidant coping functions. This line of research may hold important implications for treatment interventions targeting comorbid alcohol use disorders and eating disorders.

Development of the Protective Behavioral Strategies Survey.

OBJECTIVE: Heavy alcohol use among college students represents a public health problem on American college campuses. A promising area for combating this problem is identifying protective behavioral strategies that may reduce consumption and its resulting negative consequences among students who do choose to use alcohol. The purpose of this study was to develop and conduct initial psychometric analyses on a new scale, which we named the Protective Behavioral Strategies Survey. METHOD: Data were collected on 437 undergraduate students, who volunteered to participate in the study, at a large, public university in the northeast region of the United States. RESULTS: Results from an exploratory factor analysis yielded three theoretically meaningful factors that we labeled Limiting/Stopping Drinking, Manner of Drinking and Serious Harm Reduction. The three factors were, as a group, significantly associated with both alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems, but the strongest unique relationship existed between Manner of Drinking and the outcome variables. CONCLUSIONS: Protective behavioral strategies seem to be a measurable construct that are related to alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems, and thus may be a useful component of intervention and prevention programs with college students.

Do protective behavioral strategies mediate the relationship between drinking motives and alcohol use in college students?

OBJECTIVE: Heavy alcohol use among college students represents a public health problem on American college campuses. Use of protective behavioral strategies (PBS) has been shown to be related to reduced alcohol use and fewer alcohol-related problems, but the relationship of PBS to other alcohol-related constructs is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of PBS mediated the relationship between positively and negatively reinforcing drinking motives and both alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. METHOD: Data were collected on 254 undergraduate students at a large, public university in the northeast region of the United States. Approximately one third (n = 90) of the participants were volunteers, whereas the remaining individuals enrolled in the study as an option for satisfying an alcohol-related campus judicial sanction. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that use of PBS partially mediated the relationships between positively reinforcing (i.e., social and enhancement) drinking motives and both alcohol use and alcohol-related problems. Use of PBS did not mediate the relationship between negatively reinforcing (i.e., coping) drinking motives and alcohol use or alcohol-related problems. The theoretical models accounted for 26% of the variance in alcohol use and 24% of the variance in alcohol-related problems. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that PBS should be incorporated into theoretical models devoted to understanding college student drinking.