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Objective: Research on misperceived descriptive and injunctive drinking norms, or normative perceptions of frequency, quantity, and acceptability of drinking, has rarely been extended to American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) college student populations. Ethnic identity, or strength of one's ties to their AI/AN culture, has been hypothesized as a protective factor against problematic alcohol use. As a step toward informing culturally appropriate and gender-specific norms-based interventions for AI/AN students, this study examined differences between perceived and actual descriptive and injunctive drinking norm reference groups (e.g., AI/AN males/females, "typical" males/females), and investigated ethnic identity as a moderator between perceived and actual drinking norms., Method: AI/AN college students ( N = 356) completed an online survey assessing drinking patterns, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, and ethnic identity., Results: Compared to actual drinking levels, participants overestimated all gender-specific descriptive norm groups and all gender-specific injunctive norm groups except for AI/AN males. Participants estimated lower drinking levels for AI/AN-specific groups than non-AI/AN groups. Descriptive AI/AN male and best male friend norms significantly predicted drinking for men while only best female friend norms predicted drinking for women. Injunctive typical male norms significantly predicted drinking for men, and no injunctive norms predicted drinking for women. Finally, ethnic identity was unrelated to drinking and did not significantly moderate the relation between perceived and actual drinking., Conclusions: Current findings may inform norms-based alcohol use interventions, as AI/AN-specific reference groups may have a significant impact on drinking among men, but not women. Future culturally relevant alcohol use intervention research for AI/AN young adults is warranted. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Developing discrepancy between one's values and behaviors is theoretically important in motivating change; however, existing studies lack a validated measure of value-behavior discrepancy for alcohol misuse. The current studies aimed to modify Wilson & DuFrene (2008) Valued Living Questionnaire (VLQ) to assess consistency of alcohol use with important values. In Study 1, the initial factor structure and test-retest reliability of the VLQ for Alcohol Use (VLQ-A) was tested in a sample of college students who regularly drink alcohol (N = 150). Results guided modifications to the measure. In Study 2, the revised measure's factor structure and predictive validity were tested with a second sample of college students who drink alcohol (N = 222). In both studies, exploratory factor analysis supported a unidimensional factor structure. Perceived discrepancy between alcohol use and important values predicted greater readiness to change, while perceived consistency between alcohol use and important values predicted more frequent heavy episodic drinking. Certain values were more useful in predicting outcomes than others. Alcohol use (heavy vs. moderate drinking) did not moderate outcomes. The VLQ-A is a brief and reliable self-report measure of perceived discrepancy between drinking behaviors and important values that may increase readiness to change. Future research examining the generalizability of findings to various samples and the efficacy of the VLQ-A as a supplement to brief interventions is warranted. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).)

While stimulant medication is commonly prescribed to treat Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder in children and adolescents (Merikangas, He, Rapoport, Vitiello, & Olfson, 2013; Zuvekas & Vitiello, 2012) and is considered an empirically supported intervention for those groups (Barkley, Murphy, & Fischer, 2008; Pelham & Fabiano, 2008; Safren et al., 2005) surprisingly little is known about the efficacy of stimulants in the slightly older emerging adult population. A focus has emerged, however, on illicit stimulant use among undergraduates, with studies suggesting such behavior is not uncommon (e.g., Arria et al., 2013). Unfortunately, details are lacking regarding outcomes and personal characteristics associated with different patterns of stimulant misuse. The current study compares the characteristics of four groups of college students, including those with stimulant prescriptions who use them appropriately (i.e., appropriate users), those who misuse their prescription stimulants (i.e., medical misusers), those who obtain and use stimulants without a prescription (i.e., nonmedical misusers), and those who do not use stimulant medications at all (i.e., nonusers). Undergraduates (N = 1,153) from the Southeastern, Midwest, and Rocky Mountain regions completed online measures evaluating patterns of use, associated motives, side effects, ADHD symptomatology, and other substance use. Both types of misusers (i.e., students who abused their prescriptions and those who obtained stimulants illegally) reported concerning patterns of other and combined substance use, as well as higher prevalence of debilitating side effects such as insomnia and restlessness. Research and practical implications are discussed., (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.)

Despite major advances and success in finding effective interventions for problematic drinking among college students, personalized feedback interventions (PFIs) continue to include a range of components that vary widely across intervention trials. To facilitate research regarding which feedback components may be most effective, the present research provides preliminary evidence regarding student perceptions of and preferences for different types of feedback components. Undergraduate student drinkers (n = 397, 41% male) rated their affinity for and skepticism of 14 feedback components and identified the feedback components that they most preferred. The majority of students preferred information regarding descriptive normative comparisons and the practical costs of drinking, whereas few reported a desire to learn behavioral strategies to limit risk or didactic information. High-risk drinkers (n = 228) reported lower ratings for all feedback components than did low-risk drinkers, and men (n = 162, 41%) provided significantly lower ratings for all feedback components than did women. This is the first study to document student preferences for the different feedback components included in PFIs. The current study generates hypotheses regarding components that may increase the efficacy of current feedback interventions for high-risk drinking., ((PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).)