Decisional balance for immoderate drinking in college students

Immoderate drinking in college is common and is associated with significant negative sequelae. In this study, measures of Decisional Balance for Immod erate Drinking were developed. This construct is proposed to represent the basic decision-making process that is used by students when deciding whethe r to drink at immoderate levels or not. Furthermore this construct is embed ded in a larger model of behavior change, the Transtheoretical Model of Cha nge, which has been shown to be effective in understanding many health-rela ted behaviors across a wide variety of populations. A total of 629 college students were administered a 25-item decisional balance questionnaire in 19 93-1994. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses suggested two different solu tions, a two-factor solution and a three-factor solution, but did not provi de clear evidence for the psychometric superiority of one over the other. T he three-factor solution was chosen as it was seen as an elaboration of the two-factor solution, and validity evidence for this solution is presented. The three factors were labeled the Pros, the Cons-Actual, and the Cons-Pot ential of Immoderate Drinking. The Cons-Actual scale is a measure of negati ve affective states associated with current drinking whereas the Cons-Poten tial measures the risk of more concrete negative effects of drinking. Exter nal validity was established by the significant and meaningful differences on a number of alcohol-related variables including consumption variables, t hree measures of negative sequelae of immoderate drinking, and Stage of Cha nge, the organizing construct of the Transtheoretical Model of Change.