Health goals, sex, and college enrollment: Impacts on young adult response to digital alcohol intervention.

OBJECTIVE

Young adults in the United States commonly report high-intensity drinking (8+ drinks for females; 10+ drinks for males) and alcohol-induced memory loss ("blackouts"). Since few young adults receive formal help for alcohol use, research is needed to better understand which remotely delivered interventions work and for whom. This study tested goal setting, sex assigned at birth, and college enrollment as moderators of outcomes for one efficacious digital alcohol intervention (the "Drinking Dashboard").

METHOD: Young adults (ages 18-30 years, 58% female, 51% college students) with a history of blackout were randomized to the Drinking Dashboard (n = 74) or screen time control (n = 82). Assessments occurred at baseline, 1 month, and 3 months, as well as daily between baseline and 1-month follow-up. Multilevel generalized linear modeling tested treatment effects on high-intensity drinking and alcohol-induced blackout within moderator subgroups.

RESULTS

Two in three participants (67%) set a goal to reduce their alcohol use or related problems in the next 30 days. Relative to control participants who set an alcohol-related change goal, intervention participants who set an alcohol goal reported greater reductions in high-intensity drinking (incident rate ratio = 0.58, 95% CI [0.35, 0.96], p = .034) but not alcohol-induced blackout (incident rate ratio = 0.74, 95% CI [0.37, 1.46], p = .384). Group × Time interactions were not significant for any other subgroup.

CONCLUSIONS

The Drinking Dashboard reduces high-intensity drinking among young adults who set a goal to reduce their alcohol use or problems. We speculate that motivation (as indicated in this case by goal setting) may be more important than static variables like sex or college enrollment in predicting response to digital health interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).