Readiness to act: Use of the Health Belief Model in understanding parental communication about alcohol for incoming college students

Harmful and detrimental effects associated with college student alcohol use have been well documented in scholarly research, the popular press, numerous government-produced reports and by medical associations. Despite the fact that parental involvement in the college experience has increased significantly in the last 20 years, the literature on engaging parents in prevention programs for the college student population is limited. This dissertation, which is formatted in two sections, provides an overview of the potential role of parents as part of current multidimensional campus alcohol prevention efforts. Specifically, this dissertation utilizes the Health Belief Model to explore the degree to which specific parental attitudes predict parental perceptions of frequency of communication with their child about decision-making processes as it relates to alcohol consumption through the college transition period. The first section addresses the prevalence and consequences of alcohol use on campuses, the role that parents can assume by the nature of their attitudes and behavior as either a risk or protective factor in relation to their child's decision to consume alcohol, and an overview of the Health Belief Model (HBM). This segment is concluded with an example of a parent-based prevention model built within the conceptual framework of the Health Belief Model. The second section offers a preliminary application of the Health Belief Model in a quantitative study in which the factors that motivate or inhibit conversations between parents and their incoming college student about alcohol are investigated. This section highlights similarities and differences in communication patterns of parents whose first child is attending college compared to communication patterns of parents who have had older children matriculate into college. General results indicated that the Health Belief Model provides a limited utility when employed in investigating this particular health behavior. Implications and recommendations for future health-related educational programming for parents who have children entering the college environment are included