Reported changes in students' alcohol consumption following a brief education of what constitutes a standard drink

Intercept surveys were conducted with 149 college students each asked to record their alcohol consumption for the previous two weeks using the Timeline Follow-back (TLFB method). Immediately following completion of the pretest TLFB alcohol survey the students were presented with brief educational information defining what constitutes one standard drink. Students then completed a new posttest TLFB survey and re-recorded the number of drinks they had in the previous two weeks. Among drinkers the majority, 55%, reported an increased number of drinks in response to the standard drink education information they received. Posteducation TLFB survey records were significantly higher than baseline presurvey records conducted within a five minute timeframe of one another. Validating the accuracy of baseline self-reported alcohol consumption is important to both prevention and intervention fields potentially enabling practitioners to more accurately: a) assess alcohol education and counseling needs; b) assess baseline alcohol use rates; and c) measure outcomes.