A campus-based motivational enhancement group intervention reduces problematic drinking in freshmen male college students.

The current study employs an adaptation to Motivational Interviewing (AMI) group intervention with freshmen male undergraduates. The program follows suggestions of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for effective interventions with problematic college student drinking, and combines several empirically validated strategies to prevent drinking problems throughout college. All participants reduced drinking and alcohol-related problems; heavier drinkers and those experiencing the most alcohol-related problems reduced drinking most. Additionally, freshmen who completed the intervention were less likely than their non-intervention freshmen male peers to commit alcohol-related violations of campus policies. In addition to the reductions in problematic drinking, the group AMI has advantages over individual formats because larger numbers of students can benefit with comparable expenditures of time and effort.