Date of Award

8-2002

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. R. Wayne Fuqua

Second Advisor

Dr. Alan Poling

Third Advisor

Dr. Suzan Olson

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

Given the high rates of alcohol use and abuse among adolescents in our society, it is not surprising that drinking and driving is also relatively common. This paper starts with a summary of national statistics, which is followed by a critical review of previous interventions. The purpose of this project was to attempt to find an effective drinking and driving intervention for high school students which was relatively inexpensive, less time intensive than past interventions and required little or no training for the facilitator to present. Two related intervention conditions (a video only intervention and a slightly more extensive package intervention) were compared to a no intervention control. Participants included 116 high school students (M age = 16.95 years) in three different high schools in the Southwest Michigan area. Assessment of the impact of the two intervention programs did not produce detectable decrements in drinking and driving. Various reasons for the absence of experimental effects are discussed, as well as directions for future research.

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