Examining an Intervention to Reduce High School Drinking

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Underage Drinking; Drinking, Teen; Adolescent Alcohol Use

• Registration Number: NCT07086508
• Lead Sponsor: Binghamton University

Brief Summary

Underage drinking is a significant problem in the United States. While past research supports the efficacy of interventions in delaying the initiation of alcohol use implemented in middle school and early high school, research shows drinking by older high schoolers is problematic and interventions for older high schoolers remain limited. The current project will test the efficacy of the e-CHECKUP TO GO (eCTG), alone and combined with an electronic-Parent-Based Intervention (ePBI), for junior and senior high school students using a nationally representative sample with the goal of reducing alcohol use and negative consequences.

Detailed Description

Prevalence rates of high school alcohol use suggest 61.6% of high school students have used alcohol by their senior year and 1 in 3 students report alcohol use past 30-days. High school risky drinking is associated with negative consequences including impaired neurocognitive functioning, academic problems, hangovers, passing out, unwanted sex, dating violence, suicide attempts, illicit drug use, riding with impaired drivers, and impaired driving.

While past research supports the efficacy of interventions in delaying the initiation of alcohol use implemented in middle school and early high school, research shows drinking by older high schoolers is problematic and interventions for older high schoolers remain limited. Implementation with high schoolers has always been difficult to sustain following the completion of the grant funding period due to large costs associated with personnel to hire, train, and supervise teachers and staff to implement interventions with fidelity. As an alternative, brief web-based personalized feedback interventions that do not require staffing or costs to implement to large numbers of students have shown promise (e.g., eCHECKUP TO GO; eCTG). Our preliminary work, including our funded NIAAA R21 study, supporting this proposal has shown eCTG is efficacious in changing normative perceptions of peer drinking frequency and drunkenness, positive alcohol expectancies, and reducing both alcohol use and consequences among high school students. The proposed research will expand on these findings by conducting a randomized controlled trial using the eCHECKUP TO GO (eCTG) alone and combined with an efficacious brief electronic-Parent-Based Intervention on a nationally representative sample of high school juniors and seniors.

The design is a two-arm RCT: eCTG and eCTG+. Data collection will occur across 5 waves (pre-intervention baseline, 1-, 3-, 6-, and 9- month follow-ups) for the three intervention arms. In all arms there is one wave for parents (baseline only)

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2025-07
• Study First Submitted: 2025-07-18
• Study First Submitted QC: 2025-07-18
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-07-18
• Study First Posted: 2025-07-25
• Last Update Posted: 2025-07-25
• Study Start: 2026-09-01
• Primary Completion: 2028-09
• Study Completion: 2028-09-01

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1800

Inclusion Criteria

• Teen is aged 15-18/Parent has a teen aged 15-18
• Parent and teen both consent (forming a dyad testing unit)
• They are part of Ipsos' Knowledge Panel

Exclusion Criteria

• Outside of the teen age range/Parent does not have a teen aged 15-18

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Examine changes in alcohol use	Baseline, 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, 12 month	A standard drink definition will be provided, indicating that a standard drink consists of 12 oz. of beer or wine cooler, 8.5 oz. of malt liquor, 4 oz. of wine, or 1.5 oz. of hard liquor. Using the Timeline Followback (TLFB; Sobell \& Sobell, 1996) participants will indicate how many drinks they consumed on each day of the past three months. For days alcohol was consumed, participants will also note the number of hours spent drinking.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Examine Changes in Consequences of Alcohol Use	Baseline, 3 month, 6 month, 9 month, 12 month	Alcohol-related consequences (e.g., said or done embarrassing things, blackout) from the past three months will be measured using the established Brief Young Adult Alcohol Consequences Questionnaire (BYAACQ; Read, Kahler, Strong, \& Colder, 2006). Response options will be measured on a 7-point scale ranging from (0) no, not in the past year to (6) 11 or more times in the past three months.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Binghamton University; 🇺🇸 Binghamton, New York, United States