Kamboj, SK;
Place, H;
Barton, JA;
Linke, S;
Curran, HV;
Harris, PR;
(2016)
Processing of Alcohol-Related Health Threat in At-Risk Drinkers: An Online Study of Gender-Related Self-Affirmation Effects.
Alcohol and Alcoholism
10.1093/alcalc/agw013.
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Abstract
AIMS: Defensiveness in response to threatening health information related to excessive alcohol consumption prevents appropriate behaviour change. Alternatively, self-affirmation may improve cognitive-affective processing of threatening information, thus contributing to successful self-regulation. METHODS: Effects of an online self-affirmation procedure were examined in at-risk university student drinkers. Participants were randomly assigned to a self-affirmation (writing about personally relevant values) or control task (writing about values relevant to another person) prior to presentation of alcohol-related threatening information. Assessment of prosocial feelings (e.g. 'love') after the task served as a manipulation check. Generic and personalized information regarding the link between alcohol use and cancer was presented, followed by assessment of perceived threat, message avoidance and derogation. Page dwell-times served as indirect indices of message engagement. Alcohol consumption and intention to drink less were assessed during the first online session and at 1-week and 1-month follow-up. RESULTS: Although self-affirmation resulted in higher levels of prosocial feelings immediately after the task, there was no effect on behaviour in the self-affirmation group. Effects on intention were moderated by gender, such that men showed lower intention immediately after self-affirmation, but this increased at 1-week follow-up. Women's intention to reduce consumption in the self-affirmation group reduced over time. Trend-level effects on indices of derogation and message acceptance were in the predicted direction only in men. CONCLUSION: It is feasible to perform self-affirmation procedures in an online environment with at-risk drinkers. However, use of internet-based procedures with this population may give rise to (gender-dependent) effects that are substantially diluted compared with lab-based experiments.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Processing of Alcohol-Related Health Threat in At-Risk Drinkers: An Online Study of Gender-Related Self-Affirmation Effects |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1093/alcalc/agw013 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agw013 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Alcohol and Alcoholism following peer review. The version of record, Kamboj, SK; Place, H; Barton, JA; Linke, S; Curran, HV; Harris, PR; (2016) Processing of Alcohol-Related Health Threat in At-Risk Drinkers: An Online Study of Gender-Related Self-Affirmation Effects, is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/alcalc/agw013. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1477692 |
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