Planned and unplanned drinking to get drunk: A registered report examining willingness, drinking motives, and protective behavioral strategies using ecological momentary assessment.

OBJECTIVE: We examined alcohol use and consequences across five categories of same-day drinking intentions and willingness and tested whether same-day motives and protective strategies predicted differences in outcomes across categories of intentions and willingness. METHOD: In a 14-week ecological momentary assessment design, undergraduate student participants (N = 196) reported drinking intentions and behaviors over 13 surveys weekly (four morning surveys [Thursday through Sunday]; three midday, early, and late evening surveys [Thursday through Saturday]). On average, participants were 20.61 years old (SD = 1.50; range 17-25), 63% identified as female (n = 124), 29% as male (n = 57), and 8% identified as neither male nor female (n = 15; i.e., nonbinary; transgender; genderqueer; agender). Participants reported numbers of drinks consumed on the evening (past 2 hr) and morning (previous day) surveys. Multilevel generalized linear models tested effects of drinking intentions/willingness categories, motives, protective strategies, and interactions between key variables on alcohol use and consequences in several models. RESULTS: Rates and quantities of drinking were highest on planned drinking days, and especially high when students planned to get drunk. When enhancement and social motives were elevated, students were more likely to drink and consumed more drinks even on unplanned drinking days, and especially when socializing with others. Effects of coping motives were weaker and sparse. Harm reduction protective strategies were associated with more positive and negative consequences with little variation across planned and unplanned drinking days. CONCLUSION: Jointly considering drinking intentions and willingness narrows the intention-behavior gap in student drinking and suggests potential areas of focus for messaging around responsible drinking. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

First-Year University Students' Mental Health Trajectories Were Disrupted at the Onset of COVID-19, but Disruptions Were Not Linked to Housing and Financial Vulnerabilities: A Registered Report.

This study modeled disruptions in first-year undergraduates' trajectories of mental health associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, testing whether disruptions were worse for students who moved residences, reported low family income, or were food insecure. Participants (n = 510) at a large Canadian university reported depression, anxiety, and stress in September, November, January, and March. In March 2020, in tandem with COVID-related campus closures, students also reported for each mental health measure whether their responses were influenced by personal experiences surrounding the pandemic. As hypothesized, students who reported feeling more COVID-related disruption reported poorer mental health in March. Contrary to hypotheses, mental health disruptions were not more pronounced for students who moved, had low income, or were food insecure. Survey administration at an early stage of COVID-19 combined with supports afforded by moving in with parents and near-universal government income assistance may have mitigated the incremental distress we hypothesized for vulnerable students.