Changing University Students' Habit Strength Towards Alcohol Consumption Using Affectively and Cognitively Framed...

Excessive alcohol consumption (EAC), defined as consuming more than 14 units per week, in the university population represents a significant health risk to students.

The present research tested the impact of different attitude-salient messages to reduce the strength of habits towards consuming alcohol.

Seven hundred and fifty-five university students were randomised to one of five conditions that varied in the content of attitude salience: short-term affective, short-term cognitive, long-term affective, long-term cognitive, and no message control. The habitual strength of participants' alcohol consumption was measured at baseline and at follow-up using the Self-reported Habit Index.

ANCOVA controlling for the baseline assessed potential gender differences and several significant interactions were identified, demonstrating that the affective distal message reduced habitual strength towards EAC to a greater extent for men low in Need for Cognition (NfC; 95% CI [0.48, 2.12]), whereas, for women low in NfC, the affective proximal message was most effective. For both men and women high in NfC, the cognitive message was shown to be more effective at reducing the strength of habit towards EAC.

The findings point to the value of distinguishing between health messages in terms of several factors, including affective and cognitive outcomes, the temporal nature of these outcomes (short-term or long-term), and gender. This has important ramifications for providing information to modify behaviour.