Replicating the Safer California Universities Intervention to Reduce Intoxication Among College Students

Purpose:  The Safer California Universities study involves 14 California public universities, using an intervention that comprised roadside DUI checks, underage decoy operations at retail outlets, and designated off-campus “party patrols,” coupled with the use of multiple communication channels to publicize these enforcement activities.  In previous analyses, 7 of the campuses randomly-assigned to the intervention condition were found to have reduced self-reported intoxication at off-campus parties (OR=.81), at bars and restaurants (OR=.76), and across drinking settings overall (OR=.80).  In the present report, we examined the effects of these strategies after they were adopted by the former control campuses to see if the original effects would be replicated. 

Methods:  Two waves of baseline survey data were collected each Fall from random samples of undergraduates on the 14 campuses in 2003 and 2004, three waves of post-intervention data (for first cohort) were collected in 2005 through 2007, and four more waves of post-intervention data for the second cohort were collected from 2008 to 2011. The surveys included questions regarding six venues where students drank (Greek party, dormitory, campus event, off-campus party, bar/restaurant, outdoor setting), and intoxication at each setting during the semester, and whether students drank to intoxication the last time they went to each setting.  The SAS GLIMMIX procedure was used with dummy-coded variables for intervention phase and study condition to examine time × intervention effects on these outcomes, controlling for student and campus background characteristics. 

Results:  We found significant intervention effects in the expected directions for key outcomes of interest, including drinking to intoxication the last time at an off-campus party or any setting, and proportion of times drunk at off-campus parties or any of the settings.  These results were consistent with what was found in the original reports of intervention effects in the first cohort, and were also observed in the second cohort in the second intervention phase.

Conclusions:  Environmental strategies such as roadside DUI checks, underage decoy operations, and party patrols appear to be effective in reducing the incidence and likelihood of intoxication among college students.  The impact appears to be sufficiently robust as to be replicated in a second cohort of universities, but some decay in those effects is apparent among the first cohort.