Evaluation of Behavioral Skills Training (BST) to Teach College Students to Pour a Standard Serving of Alcohol: Skill Acquisition and Generality Across Cups and Time

Author

Margaret Brock, University of the PacificFollow

Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (M.A.)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Carolynn Kohn

First Committee Member

Corey S. Stocco

Second Committee Member

Heather Dunn Carlton

Abstract

Binge drinking is prevalent among college students and is associated with a number of serious consequences. However, research suggests college students who count drinks and set drink limits are less likely to engage in binge drinking. In order to successfully use these tactics, college students must identify and pour standard servings of alcohol. Unfortunately, college students typically cannot identify or pour standard servings of alcohol. Behavioral Skills Training (BST), comprised of instruction, modeling, rehearsal, and feedback (Miltenberger, 2008), can be used to teach college students to pour standard servings of alcohol (Hankla et al., 2017). If effective, universities might consider incorporating BST into their mandated alcohol education courses. However, because of the time investment required for properly using BST to teach this skill, it is important to examine whether participants demonstrate maintenance of skills over time and generalization across untrained cups. In the current study we used a non-concurrent multiple baseline across participants research design that included generality assessments with two untrained stimuli (cups), different in shape, color, and volume. All three participants poured inaccurately during baseline. Following BST with the first trained cup, all three poured accurately into the trained cup, reproducing results from previous studies (Hankla et al., 2018; Schultz et al., 2019). During follow up, two participants poured accurately in all three cups, and one participant poured accurately in one cup. This suggests, pending further data collection, that the skill of pouring standard servings of beer might maintain over time and generalize across untrained cups.

Pages

43

Recommended Citation

Brock, Margaret. (2020). Evaluation of Behavioral Skills Training (BST) to Teach College Students to Pour a Standard Serving of Alcohol: Skill Acquisition and Generality Across Cups and Time. University of the Pacific, Thesis. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/3697