Patterns of change in weekend drinking cognitions among non–treatment-seeking young adults during exposure to a 12-week text message intervention

Objective: We sought to identify patterns of response (latent classes) to a text-message (short message service) intervention based on weekend drinking cognitions (e.g., drinking plans, commitment to a low consumption goal), and to examine how the latent classes differed in baseline characteristics and alcohol consumption outcomes. Method: We conducted a secondary analysis of 384 non–treatment-seeking young adults with hazardous alcohol use randomly assigned to a 12-week short message service intervention. Responses to weekly short message service queries related to weekend drinking cognitions were categorized as (a) planned not to drink, (b) planned to drink but did not plan a heavy drinking episode (HDE), (c) planned to have an HDE but willing to limit alcohol consumption, (d) planned to have an HDE and not willing to limit alcohol consumption We used repeated-measures latent class analysis to identify distinct classes based on these categories and examined associations of the classes with baseline covariates and alcohol consumption outcomes through 6 months. Results: We identified the following three latent classes: planned not to drink (62%), willing to limit drinks (27%), and not willing to limit drinks (12%). The “not willing to limit drinks” class exhibited the least reductions in alcohol consumption and was more likely to include White individuals and those with higher baseline drinking severity. The “planned not to drink” class had the greatest reductions in alcohol consumption. Conclusions: Young adults who exhibited low likelihood of committing to goals to limit weekend drinking were less responsive to short message service intervention, suggesting the need for alternative interventions.