Project Leader:  Dr. Vivan Gonzalez | University of Alaska Anchorage

Abstract

This project is aimed at addressing the significant alcohol-related health disparities that exist among American Indians and Alaska Natives in the context of the pressing public health problem that is college student alcohol misuse by examining the effect of the firewater. The firewater myth (FM) is the notion that AI/ANs are more susceptible to the effects of alcohol and more vulnerable to alcohol problems due to biological or genetic differences.

Despite a lack of evidence for the FM, the idea that alcohol-related health disparities affecting AI/ANs are driven by biological variables remains pervasive. The FM, like the disease model of alcoholism, attributes alcohol misuse to factors that are internal, global, and stable. These attributions may foster hopelessness regarding one’s ability to drink moderately or to control one’s intake. Although it has long been suggested that belief in the FM could have negative effects on drinking behavior among AI/ANs, only one recently completed study (by the current research team) has examined the effect of the FM on AI/AN drinking behavior. In that study, the FM was associated with greater alcohol use, binge drinking, and alcohol consequences among AI/AN college drinkers, despite being associated with greater attempts to reduce drinking. The FM also was associated with greater guilt for drinking even small amounts of alcohol and lower self-efficacy to resist drinking heavily in tempting situations.

Given the positive association of the FM with alcohol use and consequences despite efforts to control drinking, as well as low self-efficacy to resist drinking heavily in tempting situations, we hypothesize that the FM is affecting attempts to control drinking in ways that are either ineffective or even harmful (i.e., such that these efforts do not decrease alcohol-related consequences or even increases them), as well as negatively impacting self-efficacy to use harm reducing strategies to avoid alcohol problems.

The proposed project seeks to examine how the FM affects AI/AN college drinkers':

  • Attitudes toward alcohol interventions that are abstinence-based (e.g., focused on completely giving up drinking and avoiding alcohol and associated cues) versus those based in harm reduction (e.g., focused on moderating alcohol consumption or implementing safety behaviors, like using a designated driver),
  • Self-efficacy for using abstinence and harm reduction strategies, and
  • Actual use of these strategies and their effectiveness at reducing alcohol-related consequences. T

To this end, analyses will be conducted using two preexisting datasets collected in Alaska with AI/AN participants. The information gained from this study could inform: (a) the development of an intervention to challenge belief in the FM, which may be useful for prevention of alcohol problems among low risk AI/AN youths, and (b) the development of a more comprehensive intervention for individuals who are already experiencing alcohol problems that would further address specific strategies and attitudes toward change (e.g., self-efficacy) that are negatively impacted by the FM.