Outcomes of a brief motivational intervention for heavy alcohol use in racial or ethnic minority compared to white emerging adults

Purpose: This study used secondary data from a randomized controlled trial of a Brief Motivational Intervention (BMI) to examine whether Non-White participants had different treatment results compared to White participants. Methods: The outcome variables of this study were divided into primary outcomes (heavy drinking and consequences associated with alcohol use) and secondary outcomes (cognitive variables such as motivation to change alcohol use, and behavioral variables, including protective behavioral strategies). Linear regression analyses were conducted with the PROCESS macro for SPSS, to test if race or ethnicity moderated the relationship between BMI and each treatment outcome. Data was collected at two time points, six weeks and three months after treatment. Results: This study showed that race or ethnicity did not moderate treatment results for the four outcome variables. Additional within-group effect sizes were calculated for all racial and ethnic categories, showing that Hispanic/Latine and Black participants had larger effect sizes in all the outcome variables. Discussion: The discussion examines the potential strength of Motivational Interviewing due to its client-centered spirit, which naturally allows for incorporating values and identity-based factors, such as culture, into the session. Conclusion: The results suggest similar BMI outcomes among White and Non-White emerging adults who engage in heavy drinking, potentially due to its client-centered approach. This is a preliminary study, and the results are therefore tentative.