Three faculty members from the University of Arkansas' Department of Psychological Science were recently awarded a 2-year, $150,000 grant by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIH R03) to explore safe drinking practices college students use when in environments where heavy alcohol use is present.

In the first phase of the study, professors Byron L. Zamboanga, principal investigator; Lindsay Ham, co-principal investigator; and Lauren Quetsch, co-investigator, will collect surveys from 500 college students about which protective strategies and risky behaviors they use most and why. The second phase of the study will then interview 40 of these same college students to get a clearer understanding of why certain strategies are are seen as effective or not.

The study, titled "Protective Behavioral Strategies in Risky Drinking Contexts: A Mixed Method Study," will recruit students from across the University of Arkansas campus to lend their perspectives on drinking behaviors in a variety of contexts.

Knowledge gained from this study will help in the development of more successful evidence-based interventions that reduce alcohol-related harm for college students. The research team sees this study as a promising first step to larger-scale grant initiatives where they can help build a stronger understanding of effective tools to create a safer campus community.